BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s economic response to the coronavirus epidemic has to based on options on which all countries agree and which can be deployed quickly, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamert said on Monday, effectively ruling out joint debt issuance.
Euro zone countries are deeply divided over whether or not they should jointly borrow on the market to counter the deep recession that the coronavirus is expected to cause in Europe.
Joint debt issuance would also take quite some time, because it would require either an EU treaty change or a separate treaty, officials said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
