BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The coronavirus pandemic, if not properly addressed, could cause fragmentation of the European Union economy, undermining the bloc’s single market and single currency, the head of euro zone finance ministers Mario Centeno told European Parliament.
“If left unattended, Covid-19 would leave the socio-economic and financial landscape highly fragmented. Fragmentation would undermine the single market and the currency union,” Centeno said in a video-hearing at the parliament’s economic committee.
He said that there was agreement among euro zone countries that there was a need for a recovery fund that would help Europe rebound from a deep recession expected this year, although there were different ideas of how it could be financed.
Common debt issuance was one of the option, he said, noting some in the euro zone firmly opposed it.
“Pooling resources in such a way would allow us to give a strong impetus to the recovery and avoid further straining the public finances of the most affected member states,” he said.
“While there are member states concerned with any form of debt mutualisation – this does not mean they dispute the need for extraordinary measures to support the recovery,” he said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)
