Comments by ECB governing council member, Francois Villeroy de Galhau

Villeroy
  • Europe has made significant progress in its response to the virus crisis
  • Even talks in Brussels, there was progress
  • It seems they did not manage to agree in the final stretch of the text
  • And also on one of the mechanisms
  • On possibility of further action, "of course we can do more"
  • The glass is 3/4 full and there is everything the ECB has already done

The key story to start the European morning was that EU finance ministers had earlier failed to agree on a bailout plan to help hard hit member states affected by the coronavirus outbreak, with the 16-hour discussion bearing no fruit at the end of the day.

The meeting will continue tomorrow in hopes that other members - namely Germany and Netherlands - can come to an agreement on coronabonds, an idea which Italy is not really looking to budge from at the moment.