EU Commission to Propose 1 Trillion Euro 'COVID-19 Response' Economic Plan

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, is speaking at the European Parliament plenary session held in Brussels, Belgium, on the 16th of last month (local time). (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The European Union (EU) executive body, the European Commission, will unveil a plan worth 1 trillion euros (approximately 1,357 trillion won) on the 27th (local time) to help revive the European economy, which has been stagnated due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

According to major foreign news agencies such as AFP, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, is scheduled to present this proposal to the European Parliament on the same day.

The plan aims to help the member states most severely affected by COVID-19 recover quickly, and it is expected to be a mixed plan of grants and loans.

Earlier, the leaders of the 27 EU member states agreed last month to establish a large-scale economic recovery fund linked to the EU's long-term budget for 2021-2027 to respond to the economic impact of COVID-19, and decided that the European Commission would present the detailed plan.

For this plan to be implemented, all 27 EU member states must agree, but disagreements have already emerged among the member states, making consensus unlikely. Germany and France proposed creating a fund of 500 billion euros (approximately 667 trillion won) at the EU level to support member states severely affected by the spread of COVID-19. Since this is a grant rather than a loan, the beneficiary countries do not have to repay the money.

However, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark maintain the position that the support should be in the form of loans rather than grants.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.