EU leaders create massive coronavirus recovery fund, but reject “coronabonds”

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to create a massive coronavirus recovery fund worth trillions rather than billions of euros.

But they did not endorse “coronabonds,” the controversial debt-pooling instrument that countries such as Italy and Spain hoped for.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was critical that the EU worked together in the face of the crisis, warning that “if we abandon part of Europe, all of Europe will fall.”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, a fierce critic of the Europe-wide response to the pandemic that has hit his country so hard, expressed satisfaction with Thursday’s virtual summit.

He said the Council’s decision to launch the recovery fund was “important” to help some of the hardest-hit countries.

“It’s important because this is a necessary and urgent tool. It is absolutely necessary Italy is the first in line to ask for this,” he said in a short video statement.

Coronabond controversy: The leaders agreed that the financing would be built into the EU’s next seven-year budget, rather than special instruments including the so-called “coronabonds.”