The coronavirus is the European Union’s biggest ever challenge and member states must show greater solidarity so that the bloc can emerge stronger from the economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday. Germany and the Netherlands have been criticised by Italy and Spain – the two countries worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak – for rejecting calls that the euro zone issue common debt to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. Merkel reaffirmed Germany’s opposition to pooling its debt with other countries in the euro system but said she supported using the currency bloc’s bailout fund to help badly affected countries to weather the crisis.
