EU finance ministers have approved a plan to revive the economy presented by the 12 member states of the union, in light of the effects of the coronavirus epidemic.
The Council of Europe has said the 672.5 billion euro rescue plan aims to revive the European economy by supporting reforms and investment projects of member states. Countries that will benefit from the program adopted yesterday include Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain.
Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Sircelj, who is currently the current president of the European Union, said it was a step forward for the union and stressed the need to approve the plans well for the common goals of the 27-nation European Union.
Historical event
'' I think today is a historic day because it is the first time the European Union and the European Council have helped the country in that way. For example, they have gone to the market, bought bonds, and now offer grants and loans to each country, '' explained Sircelj.
Spain and Italy will benefit the most from the deal, with a total of about 70 billion euros in grants over the next five years, ahead of France with 40 billion euros. In addition, the Vice President of the Council of the European Union Valdis Dombrovskis said the move was good news as they had been planning for a long time.
However, Hungary's proposal has turned into a political stalemate and has not yet been signed by the Council of the European Union due to the country's concerns over its fight against corruption and good governance. Only two of the 27 countries, Bulgaria and the Netherlands have not submitted their proposals.
On the other hand, the French government has defended its decision to require citizens who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus to be tested for the virus or to be allowed to eat in restaurants or travel long distances. The move has led to an increase in the number of people seeking vaccination.
Germany not following the French route
Germany, for its part, has said it has no plans to follow in the footsteps of France and other countries forcing people to burn the COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, China today recorded 24 new cases of coronavirus, the number if dropped from 29 the day before.
Africa has also recorded 6,009,854 cases of COVID-19, since the outbreak in China in December 2019. Tunisia is struggling to cope with an outbreak of coronavirus, which has also infected Speaker Rached Ghannouchi. Morocco also plans to send 100 beds to intensive care units and a similar number of respirators to combat the epidemic.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth countries lost $ 345 billion in trade last year due to the coronavirus epidemic that caused the global economic downturn.
