Italy will "fight its corner" in talks with other European Union states on a proposed 750 billion euro fund to help European economies recover from the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday.
"In the negotiations for the Recovery Fund, Italy will fight its corner, as we did in getting the EU's borders open again to tourists," Di Maio wrote on Facebook.
If European heads of state and government approve the European Commission's proposal, coronavirus-ravaged Italy stands to be one of the main beneficiaries of the Recovery Fund, which includes €500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans to member states.
However, the positions of EU countries remained "far apart", Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte told lawmakers on Wednesday ahead of the European Council summit taking place on Thursday.
