The consequences of the economic crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic will be worse than those of the 2008 financial crisis, however, the European Union is capable of coping with them, Markus Ederer, the EU ambassador to Russia, told RIA Novosti
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2020) The consequences of the economic crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic will be worse than those of the 2008 financial crisis, however, the European Union is capable of coping with them, Markus Ederer, the EU ambassador to Russia, told RIA Novosti.
"It's a global crisis, it's a crisis which will beat the financial crisis [of 2008] I believe, and therefore we have to help each other out. I believe the EU will manage this crisis, but we were off with a rocky start," Ederer said.
The EU diplomat then quoted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as saying that Europe needed to show it was not just a "fair-weather" union and that too many member states refused to share their umbrella.
"I would add that the self-criticism and self-correction is a definite strength of liberal democracy. And I believe for the last two weeks things have improved. In the last days, Germany, Austria, and France have sent a lot of medical equipment to Italy. Member states are offering hospital beds to other member states' patients. I know myself that Germany now has patients from Italy, Spain, France in its hospitals and that is the kind of mutual support and solidarity I think we should expect and I can tell there will be more," Ederer noted.
The ambassador added that countries would manage the crisis if they acted in unison, although many European member states have responded on their own.
On Wednesday, von der Leyen proposed launching a new short-term work (SURE) initiative to support the hardest-hit countries in the European Union by saving millions of jobs, protecting employees and employers, as well as guaranteeing the restart of the European economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Europe has recorded over 421,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to an update by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control published on April 1. Italy has the highest number of cases in the region, followed by Spain and Germany. Across the whole of Europe, there have been over 29,000 confirmed deaths.
