Ahead of the meeting of the Eurozone finance ministers, the president of the Party of the European Socialists, Sergei Stanishev, and the leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Iratxe García, called on the Eurogroup to live up to its historical responsibility to save the Eurozone.

Sergei Stanishev said:

“There is no time to waste. The Eurozone must offer an effective response and a clear political message that it is up to the challenge. This COVID-19 health crisis is damaging our prosperity and social welfare for years to come, we need aggressive and bold actions now. We must remember the lessons of the 2008 crisis – when citizens feel abandoned euroscepticism grows and undemocratic and populistic forces get stronger.

“As socialists and democrats, we have clear solutions to save lives and save jobs. All these measures must be taken now to prevent massive unemployment and companies going bankrupt.”

Iratxe García said:

“Never before has the world economy been put on hold, so this is unknown ground. What we know is that the more we prepare for the impact, the less painful it will be for the European Union to recover the positive growth path. The confinement needed to save lives is damaging our factories, businesses and workers, particularly the self-employed. People need to have a job to return to, many are in need of an urgent source of income to survive.

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