EU finance ministers meeting to focus on Covid-19 impact, recovery measures

A scheduled virtual meeting of the European Union's (EU) economy and finance ministers to be held today is expected to focus on COVID-19's impact and the bloc's recovery measures.

The Ministers will exchange views on the progress achieved on the measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis at the EU level, including the safety nets of the European Investment Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and SURE (support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency), Xinhua news agency reported.

During the meeting, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) will present their assessment of the current economic situation.

The conference will also discuss the convergence reports published on June 10, which examine whether non-euro member states satisfy the necessary conditions to adopt the single currency.

The European economy will face a "deeper recession" due to the prolonged measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission said in its "Summer 2020 Economic Forecast” this week.

The EU economy is forecast to contract by 8.3 per cent in 2020, it added..