Economy of the European Union

The European Commission has today adopted two measures to support the food industry. The measures will increase farmers' cash flow and reduce the administrative burden for national, regional authorities and farmers in these particularly difficult times.

Greece's economy will contract by about 5.0 percent to 9.0 percent this year under baseline and adverse scenarios, hit by lockdown measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, an influential think-tank forecast on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank bought 36.8 billion euros of bonds last week, more than ever before, as it sought to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down most of the eurozone's economies.

The coronavirus epidemic is subsiding, but the war is not won yet, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised message this evening, thanking the Greek people for their trust and discipline and calling on them to continue to respect restrictive measures.

From mid-March up until the end of May at the earliest, the state looks set to be the main - if not the only - income provider for about 3 million households in Greece, or 70 percent of all families.

The reduction of the private sector's contribution toward the country's total income is unprecedented and the gap will have to be bridged (although not covered) by the state budget.

The coronavirus will at some point go away. The big question is what the pandemic will leave in its wake, here in Greece and the rest of the world. It is too early to make predictions but it's almost certain that only a few things will stay the same.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has confirmed that Bulgaria is continuing its plan to enter the ERM-2 exchange rate mechanism. One of the commercial banks in the country still need to comply with the European Central Bank's recommendations for additional capital buffers. In doing so, Bulgaria will meet the requirements for applying to join the European Banking Union and ERM-2.

Albeit at the last minute, eurozone countries managed to strike a compromise on an economic package to handle the enormous repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a previous editorial we had underlined that there was no other choice unless member-states want the breakup of the eurozone.

The European Union estimates that the Greek economy will contract by 8 to 9 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, much higher than the government's projections.

Officials in Brussels revealed that forecast on Wednesday, during a conference call with the finance ministers of the Greek government regarding the assessment of the Greek economy.

"I shouldn't have to bend over to the Eurozone waiting room. You see how much money they are allocating. Bulgaria has an excellent financial and economic structure and has to meet only one requirement, in order to join ERM2 and we will do it immediately - we will apply for the Eurozone again.