Europe’s Landmark Coronavirus Package Puts Divisions Aside
Last week, European Union leaders took a historic step that could help solidify the future of the bloc and allow it to mount a strong economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The move stands in sharp contrast to the United States, where a patchwork of government aid programs has been mired in partisan infighting, leaving millions of people desperate for help.
On its face, the EU’s proposed 750 billion euro (approximately $825 billion) rescue plan would provide much-needed relief to member states whose economies have been hammered by the outbreak.
In a larger sense, by asserting the authority of the EU’s central government and acknowledging the mutual economic interests of European nations, the blueprint represents a major milestone in a half-century of European integration.
“This is about all of us, and it is way bigger than any one of us,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told European Parliament members in a speech last Wednesday in Brussels. “This is Europe’s moment.”
Under the relief proposal, funds would be split into two pots. In one, 500 billion euros would be distributed as grants — money that would not need to be repaid — to countries based on their recovery needs. Much of the money would go to Italy and Spain, the EU nations most affected by the pandemic.
The rest of the funds, 250 billion euros, would be offered as loans to countries that apply for them, and would have certain provisions attached.
“We either all go it alone, leaving countries, regions and people behind and accepting a union of haves and have-nots, or we walk that road together,” von der Leyen said.
If the EU’s 27 member states approve the plan in the coming months, it could end months of squabbling over how to fund a recovery that has exposed political and economic fault lines across the continent.
Indeed, in the early days of the pandemic, national interests seemed to trump larger European ideals, leaving the future of the...
