Ireland can share in an EU “unemployment reinsurance scheme” worth up to €100 billion to help member governments pay the emergency coronavirus welfare payments. “Unemployment numbers are just exploding right now – something far above and beyond the usual emergency measures,” one senior EU official told Independent.ie. In Netherlands, a founding EU member state, there were serious rifts within the government over their Prime Minister, Mark Rutte’s, refusal last week to even consider such bonds. But now this EU Commission move is seen as part of a set of proposals that will be discussed by the EU finance ministers meeting by video conference. Many Brussels’ diplomats now hope this meeting will back the plan along with other measures already being lined up.

Source: Irish Independent April 01, 2020 17:15 UTC