EU in €500bn pledge amid greatest economic crisis since Great Depression

A deal was reached between EU finance ministers on Thursday night, in which half-a-trillion euro has been pledged to help member states most affected by the COVID19 pandemic.

The response plan, announced by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe includes loans to countries in major difficulty to help their response effort to Covid-19, a mechanism to use the European Investment Bank to make loans available to countries at low interest rates and a plan for workers to help companies pay for wage subsidy schemes.