Trillion euro rescue plan call to boost EU economy

A €1trn Marshall Plan-like economic stimulus package is needed to kickstart European economies following the Covid-19 crisis, an Irish MEP has said.

Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South, Billy Kelleher said the €1trn EU-wide fund would “ensure that the current Covid-19 health and economic crisis does not turn into a Great Depression”.

It would be akin to the Marshall Plan post-World War II, Mr Kelleher said.

“The fund should be secured by the European Budget itself and supported by the ECB. Similar to the Marshall Plan after World War II, it would fund major infrastructure projects to prepare Europe for the next challenges it will face.”

Economists such as J Bradford De Long and Barry Eichengreen have called the Marshall Plan “history’s most successful structural adjustment program”, while other prominent economists and sociologists claim it brought relative prosperity and peace to Europe after the turbulent first half of the 20th century.