ESM inadequate says Gentiloni (2)

(ANSA) - Brussels, April 2 - The European Stability Mechanism bailout fund, as it is, is "completely inadequate" to provide the necessary funds to counteract the economic impact of the coronavirus, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday.
    "The ESM was born in another historical epoch and today it is completely inadequate for what we are facing," he told Sky news.
    If the conditions restricting its use were to change, he said, "it might be looked at in a different way, but let's not get fossilized, we have several other instruments and various goals".
    Italy is pushing for coronabonds to fund the response to the virus-induced economic crisis, and Rome has rejected the use of the ESM which Germany and other northern deficit hawks are advocating.