Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis, the ESM is back at the centre of the debate in Europe. On 9 April, the EU finance ministers agreed that the ESM will contribute, along with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB), to the joint European crisis relief efforts.
The finance ministers have asked the ESM to grant a Pandemic Crisis Support credit line amounting to 2% of members’ GDP. That corresponds to around €240 billion for all 19 euro countries. This credit line is tailored to the corona crisis and will be activated, upon request, under standardised terms defined in advance. The sole requirement to access the credit line is a commitment to use the money to pay for direct and indirect healthcare, cure, and prevention-related costs in this crisis – in other words, to save European lives and overcome the acute threat to public health.
The debate around the ESM has touched upon its role in the euro crisis in 2010 and the following years. From my perspective as former mission chief for Ireland and later for Greece, I would like to explain why I think our assistance – together with our partner institutions – was beneficial for the euro area as a whole, the programme countries and better than all available alternatives.
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