Home » Economic and Financial Affairs

Economic and Financial Affairs

EU must focus on health, jobs now, fiscal matters later – Commission

European Union (EU) countries must now focus on investment in public health and protecting jobs and companies, and worry about fiscal sustainability later, the European Commission said on Wednesday. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Paolo Gentiloni said that EU should coordinate its approach to economic recovery once the coronavirus pandemic subsides in its annual recommendations to the bloc’s 27 countries. Budget gaps in all EU countries except Bulgaria will widen well beyond the EU’s usual ceiling of 3 per cent of gross domestic product this year as governments use public money to prop up economies that are expected to plunge into their deepest recessions ever this year. Public debt is also going to rocket, breaching the EU’s normal requirement that it should be fa...