Europe faces losing competitiveness unless it responds robustly to the economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and issues joint debt instruments to fund the bloc's recovery, premier Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday.
"We need eurobonds so the whole of Europe does not lose competitiveness. We need new financial instruments to counter this crisis," Conte said in an interview with Bild.
A 14-hour meeting of EU finance ministers that began on Tuesday broke up without an agreement on how to finance massive reconstruction needed for economic recovery from the devastating effects of Covid-19.
Spain and Italy - the two European countries hardest hit by Covid-19 - have demanded the mutualisation of European debt ('coronavirus bonds') but have met with opposition from fiscally conservative Germany and the Netherlands.
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