EU agrees $859bn coronavirus recovery fund

Addis Ababa, July 21, 2020 (FBC) – European Union leaders clinched an historic deal on a massive stimulus plan for their coronavirus-throttled economies after a fractious summit that lasted almost five days.

The agreement paves the way for the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to raise billions of Euros on capital markets on behalf of all 27 states, an unprecedented act of solidarity in almost seven decades of European integration.

Summit chairman Charles Michel called the accord “a pivotal moment” for Europe.

Many had warned that a failed summit amid the coronavirus pandemic would have put the bloc’s viability in serious doubt after years of economic crisis and Britain’s recent departure. News of the deal in Brussels saw the euro rise to a fresh four-month high of $1.1470.

“This agreement sends a concrete signal that Europe is a force for action,” a jubilant Michel told a news conference.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spearheaded a push for the deal with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hailed it as “truly historic”.

Leaders hope the 857.33 billion US Dollars recovery fund and its related 1.1 trillion euro 2021-2017 budget will help repair the continent’s deepest recession since World War Two after the coronavirus outbreak shut down economies.