Friedrich Merz, the top candidate to lead German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), has warned that economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis could collapse the European Union
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2020) Friedrich Merz, the top candidate to lead German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), has warned that economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis could collapse the European Union.
EU leaders failed this week to agree conditions for emergency loans that the eurozone's bailout mechanism, ESM, is asked to give to the hardest-hit member countries, with Italy and Spain saying they should not be stigmatized over the pandemic they did not cause.
"Europe's collapse cannot, unfortunately, be ruled out. Neither can another eurozone crisis. That is why we must do everything to unite Europe and help it avoid a second and deeper euro crisis," Merz said in an interview with the Rheinische Post daily.
The 64-year-old, who has recently recovered from COVID-19, said Germany should not be bailing out Europe together with a couple of other countries. He argued that the pandemic's economic burden on the 19-nation eurogroup was greater than in 2008.
