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After two days of online intense negotiations and sometimes heated discussions, the finance ministers of the EU-27 agreed on 9 April to a €540 billion aid package to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic in Europe.
The main sticking point was the hostility of some northern countries, led by Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, to the creation of “coronabonds” – debt securities guaranteed by all member states. The bonds were demanded by several south-western European countries, and replaced in the final declaration by no better specified “innovative financial tools“. The head of state and of governments will now have to approve the deal.