The EC "Will Use all the Tools at its Disposal to Make Sure the European Economy Weathers the Storm”

After the EU leaders' videoconference on the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Commission received a mandate to further step up its response to the Coronavirus, or COVID-19 outbreak, on all fronts and coordinate Member State actions. The crisis we face because of Coronavirus has both a very significant human dimension, and a potentially major economic impact. It is therefore essential that we act decisively and collectively, to contain the spread of the virus and help patients, and to counter the economic fallout.

After the videoconference, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said:

"Let me be very clear: The Commission is working flat out on both fronts.

• The European Commission will, in a daily phone conference with the Health Ministers and the Ministers of Internal Affairs, coordinate the necessary measures.
• Secondly, the Commission will assemble a team of epidemiologists and virologists from different Member States to give us guidelines on the European level.
• The European Commission is now taking stock of the available protective equipment and respiratory devices as well as their production and distribution capacity. Those are crucial for the entire health sector.
• On research and development, we will reinforce the European initiative to fund targeted research on the Coronavirus.
• We have mobilised €140 million of public and private funding for promising research on vaccines, diagnosis and treatment.

On the economic front:

First and foremost, we must act at the macro-economic level. We will use all the tools at our disposal to make sure the European economy weathers this storm. This...