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.
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