This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

The survival of the European Union is at stake as the continent weathers its worst crisis since the second world war, Spain’s prime minister has said, calling on Europe to implement its own Marshall plan to rebuild the continent’s economies.

Europe's future is at stake in this war against coronavirus | Pedro Sánchez Read more

In an article published by the Guardian and nine newspapers across the continent, Pedro Sánchez said failure to act in solidarity could imperil the union’s future.

Meanwhile, the number of daily deaths in Spain dropped significantly, raising hopes the Covid-19 epidemic there is peaking.

European leaders have clashed in recent weeks over how to respond to the economic shock of the crisis, exposing deep faultlines as countries such as Italy, France and Spain accuse other member states of being too timid in their response.

Sánchez wrote: “Europe must build a wartime economy and promote European resistance, reconstruction and recovery. Europe was born out of the ashes of destruction and conflict. It learned the lessons of history and understood something very simple: if we don’t all win, in the end, we all lose.”

He reiterated his call for so-called “coronabonds”, or EU-backed debt instruments, as well as a European Marshall plan of massive public investments.

There are signs that the coronavirus may be beginning to loosen its grip on Spain and Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit countries in the pandemic.

Spain reported 674 deaths in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily toll since 26 March. The virus has claimed 12,418 lives in the country, and the number of confirmed cases is now 130,759, according to data from the health ministry published on Sunday.

The latest data suggests the growth in the number of infections has slowed to about 5% – the smallest increase since officials began tracking the outbreak.

While officials urged caution in interpreting the data, they noted that the figures hinted at a downward trend, with fewer hospitalisations and a drop in patients needing critical care.

“The sense that we’re getting from the regions is that the pressure is easing,” said María José Sierra from Spain’s health emergency centre. “It’s what we expected after three weeks of distancing measures.”

In Italy, the number of deaths has passed the 15,000 mark. The total rose on Saturday by 681, the lowest daily rise in almost two weeks.

Officials said on Saturday the number of patients in intensive care had fallen for the first time since they began tracking the outbreak, with 3,994 people in intensive care on Saturday, down from 4,068.

“This is important news as it allows our hospitals to breathe,” said Angelo Borrelli, the chief of the civil protection authority.

In Germany, the number of confirmed infections rose by 5,936 in 24 hours to a total of 91,714 on Sunday, the third consecutive day that the daily rate of new cases had dropped, data from the government’s Robert Koch Institute showed.