Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte calls on the European Union (EU) not to make tragic mistakes in the fight against the coronavirus so as not to lose its grounds for existence.

“Inaction will put the brunt of a devastated economy on our children. Do we want to be at the height of this challenge? Then let’s come up with a European recovery and reinvestment plan that will help the European economy and help it work again”, says the Italian Prime Minister.

At Thursday’s European Council, there was “not just disagreement, but genuine and frank opposition” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, “as we are experiencing a crisis that is killing many of our fellow citizens and causing a severe economic recession. I am a representative of a country that has suffered a lot, and I cannot afford to pervert. In Italy, and in the other EU Member States, we are forced to make tragic elections. In Europe, we must avoid having tragic elections. If Europe does not show that it is at the height of this unprecedented challenge the whole European project risks losing in the eyes of our own citizens’ reason to exist”, said Giuseppe Conte.

At a European Council meeting, Giuseppe Conte told other leaders that the European Stability Mechanism is not appropriate at this time. This mechanism “is a tool designed to assist the Member States that have financial difficulties associated with asymmetric shocks”. However, the coronavirus creates a “symmetric shock” and adversely affects our economic and social systems in an asynchronous and completely unexpected way, added Giuseppe Conte.

According to the Italian leader, it is “something completely different from the 2008 crisis”. “We are at a critical juncture with European history”, he stresses.