EU Takes Two Weeks on Italy Rescue Plan

The EU leaders managed to finally agree on the adoption of urgent measures of financial assistance to the affected countries. Italy insisted on speeding up decision-making. The heads of state and government of the European Union agreed to develop a package of economic assistance measures for the EU countries most affected by the epidemic within two weeks. This agreement was reached on Thursday, March 26, at a summit held over video-conference. At the same time, governments of the eurozone countries should propose measures that will be agreed upon at joint consultations. Conte rejected a draft joint statement by the EU summit, considering the set of proposed economic assistance measures insufficient. He insisted that new measures be proposed within 10 days - during the consultations, that ended late at night, it was possible to increase this period to two weeks. According to the agreement, responsibility for developing a package of economic assistance measures is vested not in the EU institutions, the European Commission and the European Parliament, but in the heads of European states and governments. Italy, where more than 8,000 people have already died in the course of the epidemic, is considered the country most affected by the coronavirus in Europe. AFP notes that it has practically no financial resources to cope independently with the economic consequences of the epidemic.