Italy’s prime minister has demanded the EU use “the full firepower” of its €500bn rescue fund to confront the continent’s economic crisis, as he warned against relying on monetary policy to counter a “global shock that has no precedents”.
With coronavirus deaths in Italy overtaking those in China for the first time, Giuseppe Conte told the Financial Times it was time for the European Stability Mechanism to offer emergency credit lines to countries reeling from the pandemic.
“Monetary policy alone cannot solve all problems; we need to do the same on the fiscal front and, as I already mentioned, time is of the essence,” the Italian prime minister said. “The route to follow is to open ESM credit lines to all member states to help them fight the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic.”