EU leaders convened in a video conference on 23 April to discuss plans for a recovery from the crisis. They agreed on the already discussed €540 billion package worked out by EU Finance Ministers and put forward the idea of a trillion-euro recovery fund. Crucial details on the size, its precise relation to the EU budget, and where the money is coming from will be left to the Commission. Commission President von der Leyen told leaders that there would have to be a “right balance” between grants and loans. A new Commission proposal will be presented on 6 May (Source: DeHavilland).
The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has told EU leaders that, in the most severe scenario of the ECB’s forecasts the eurozone economy will be shrinking by 15%. This would be twice as bad as a recent prediction made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that sees the Eurozone economy contract by 7,5%. For comparison, the fall in the first year after the 2008 financial crisis was 4,5% (Source: Reuters).