Merkel urges Germany to support EU stimulus

Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a Europe-wide economic stimulus program to be financed by the European Union’s budget, making a national appeal that helping its partners would be good for Germany.
“A European growth program could support an upswing over the next two years and we’ll work for that,” Merkel said in a speech to the lower house of parliament in Berlin on Thursday. “We want to act quickly in Europe, and we of course need instruments to be able to quickly deal with the effects of the crisis in all member states.”
She urged German lawmakers to move fast to make a planned 500 billion euros ($540 billion) in EU spending available as soon as June 1.
The German leader spoke ahead of a video conference with her European Union counterparts to discuss the next steps in tackling the virus crisis. The pandemic has battered the region’s economies and plunged the world’s largest trading bloc into the worst recession in living memory.
The European Commission has proposed a 2 trillion-euro plan for economic recovery as it seeks to overcome divisions between EU members over the response. The EU expects output to contract by as much as 10% this year, according to an official.
“We should be prepared, in the spirit of solidarity and over a limited period of time, to contribute more to the European budget,” she said.