EU faces a wave of bankruptcies once supports end

Without financial supports, almost a quarter of EU companies would have had liquidity problems

"There is full agreement that fiscal support needs to be maintained for now, for quite a while."

The European Union is facing a surge in bankruptcies and bad loans once the post-pandemic economic recovery starts to take hold and governments begin withdrawing state schemes that are keeping many firms on life support, a EU document indicates.

The European Commission note, prepared for euro zone finance ministers' talks on Monday, said that thanks to almost €2.3 trillion in national liquidity support measures, euro zone governments have so far staved off a rise in insolvencies.