The European Union's Promise And Sorry For Italy In The Middle Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

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JAKARTA - European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen apologized to Italy for the lack of solidarity from European countries in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. However, it promised to provide greater assistance in dealing with the economic impact in Italy.

When COVID-19 hit, Italy was very worried about the European Union's response to this pandemic. Starting from the failure to send medical assistance, followed by the refusal of the northern countries of the European Union to jointly reduce the cost of recovery.

Italy, which has recorded more deaths from COVID-19 than any other country in Europe, on Thursday April 2 said that the death toll from COVID-19 was 760 over the past 24 hours. This brings the number of deaths in Italy to 13,915.

In a letter published in the Italian daily, La Repubblica, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that many EU countries are only focused on the problems of their own countries.

“They don't realize that we can only beat this pandemic together, as a unit. This is dangerous and can be avoided. Today Europe is united on the side of Italy, "said Ursula von der Leyen, quoted by Reuters, Friday, March 3, 2020.

The main problem is a request for Italy and eight other countries to issue "recovery bonds" on behalf of all eurozone countries to fund efforts to rebuild national economies that are expected to plunge deep into recession.

Conservative leaders in wealthy countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Austria have so far disagreed on the idea of issuing bonds to highly indebted countries, such as Italy.

Italian Prime Minister (PM) Giuseppe Conte urged these countries to rethink their decision. Opposition parties in Italy also struggled to get a lot of attention during the COVID-19 crisis and are arguing with the European Union commission so that Italy can get more attention because of the virus case.

"I believe that everyone will eventually realize even those countries (Germany, the Netherlands and Austria) that a divided, orderly, strong, and fast EU response is the only solution. A slow response will be a very favorable response. useless, "said PM Conte.

“The President of the European Union Commission von der Leyen has apologized today to Italy and the Italian public. He could think of this sooner. From Europe (countries), all we get is words, zero substance, "said Opposition Party League leader Matteo Salvini.

The party's economic adviser, Claudio Borghi, posted a tweet on his official Twitter account along with a fascist-era poster from World War II of a Nazi soldier smiling with the slogan "Germany is really your friend ... Time flies but tactics are always the same," Borghi wrote. .

Passa il tempo ma le tattiche sono semper le stesse. pic.twitter.com/jSmRT4NXMd

- Claudio Borghi A. (@borghi_claudio) April 2, 2020

Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Union will allocate up to 100 billion euros ($ 109.62 billion) for the countries most affected by COVID-19. The assistance includes Italy, which will be used to cover wages and to keep workers out of work.

He said the European Union Commission also wanted to ensure that "every euro available in the annual budget" was spent on tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Underscoring the scale of the epidemic in Italy, the crematorium in Milan announced on Thursday 2 April that it would not receive any more bodies during April to clean up the pile of coffins.