EU may need €1.5tn to combat coronavirus crisis: commissioner

Aid worth around €1.5 trillion could be needed to tackle the coronavirus crisis, Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, said in an interview for the German magazine, Der Spiegel, on April 20.

“The Eurogroup has now made proposals for aid worth more than 500 billion euros to finance healthcare and short-time work and to help small and medium-sized companies. That leaves at least one trillion euros. This is roughly the amount we need to be dealing with now.”

He added that the funds could be raised via the EU’s next multi-annual budget.

(Der Spiegel, Reuters)