Iran Press/Europe: The EU’s economic commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said there was an urgent need to mitigate the inevitable exacerbation of existing social and economic fissures, as countries emerge at different speeds from the unprecedented economic downturn, according to the Guardian.
The economic output of the Eurozone is likely to shrink by a record of 7.75% in 2020 and rebound by just 6.25% in 2021, with unemployment rising from 7.5% in 2019 to 9.5%.
Gentiloni said economic activity in the EU as a whole had “dropped by around one-third practically overnight” owing to the lockdowns imposed by European governments.
More than 1.1 million people have contracted the virus across Europe and more than 137,000 have died, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
But the commission warned that a number of countries were likely to lag behind in bouncing back next year.
Gentiloni said the pace of recovery of European governments would depend on the speed at which lockdowns could be lifted, the importance of services such as tourism in each economy, and by each country’s financial resources.
“Such divergence poses a threat to the single market and the euro area – yet it can be mitigated through decisive, joint European action,” Gentiloni said.
The European Commission is planning a €1.5tn (£1.3tn) recovery package made up of loans and grants but there remain differences of opinion on the level of burden-sharing.
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