Nine EU Countries Want to Issue Common Bonds to Fight Coronavirus

According to France, Italy, Spain and several other countries, the EU urgently needs to find more money to combat the coronavirus pandemic. To this end, they advocate issuing joint bonds. Heads of state and government of France, Italy, Spain and six other EU countries called for joint bonds issuing to finance the necessary measures aimed at combatting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. To get more funds to be directed to health and the economy for fighting against the pandemic there’s a need of a “common debt instrument”, Reuters informed on Wednesday, March 25, quoting the heads of nine EU countries states’ joint letter. "We need to work on a common debt instrument issued by a European institution to get finances on the market. To ensure maximum efficiency, it is necessary to issue joint bonds in sufficient volume and with a long maturity," stated the document, that heads of state and the governments of Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Belgium and Greece have also signed. On March 26, leaders of 9 EU countries intend to hold the third video conference on the coronavirus problem. On March 24, Eurozone finance ministers failed to agree on a joint bond issue. In their joint message, leaders of 9 states also called on Eurozone member countries to consider “finding other tools, such as targeted financing of expenditure items in the EU budget for 2020 and 2021 related to the fight against coronavirus”.