EU leaders agree on historic stimulus plan to help Europe recover from coronavirus crisis

Brussels / Hong Kong (CNN Business) - After nearly five days of discussions, European Union leaders agreed on a € 750bn (nearly $ 858bn) stimulus plan to help finance Europe's recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

The agreement would focus on providing financing through three pillars: creating reforms to help companies recover from the pandemic, implementing new measures to reform economies in the long term, and investing to help protect themselves from "future crises." It would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and loans to member states.

The deal came after days of stalling and frantic talks that were described as some of the most bitterly divided in years.

"We did it! Europe is strong. Europe is united, ”said European Council President Charles Michel at a press conference on Tuesday. "This is a good agreement, this is a strong agreement, and most importantly, this is the right agreement for Europe at the moment."

Michel described the occasion as the first time that members of the European Union were "uniting our economies against the crisis."

The commission also agreed on a core budget of 1.1 trillion euros (nearly $ 1.3 trillion) for 2021-2027.

Commenting on the deal, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the deal as a "historic day for Europe", while Belgium's Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes said that "the European Union had never before decided to invest in any way. so ambitious in the future ”.

There have been bitter disputes over some of the terms of the agreement in the past few days. The deal came just hours after Michel presented a new proposal to political leaders on Monday.

The European Union is fighting a savage recession caused by the pandemic, and the worst-hit countries like Italy and Spain urgently need new economic relief worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Before Tuesday, any deal had been thwarted by deep divisions over the total size of the recovery fund, how much assistance should be given in the form of grants or loans, and the conditions that needed to be attached.

The European Commission said earlier this month that it expects the EU economy to shrink 8.3% in 2020, worse than the 7.4% drop predicted two months ago.

The gathering of EU senior officials is the first major face-to-face summit of world leaders since the pandemic began.

European Union