Focusing on protecting our citizens. Giving them the health care that they need and aspiring as well to mitigating the impact on our economy as much as possible. At least to the extent that we manage this is best as we can doing the best we possibly can here this is something thats been confirmed by everyone involved answer germany. Is in a good team with the other Member States if you like before that we had a Video Conference between president adly one person. Boris johnson and myself where we discussed the situation in syria. I believe this was a very useful talk we looked at the humanitarian situation in libya and the options to offer a hear what germany has here mark spitz. 25 plus 1000000 euros for humanitarian aid this is money that we want to see turning into aid that reach people quickly we very much welcome a temporary cease fire and the turkish president talked was about the common patrols along this for transport. Infrastructure near it but we have also encouraged the political process in syria to continue to we talked to nato the president emphasized once again that he wants to be a member of nato and we welcome this and affirmed it which is why its all the more necessary to address political differences and discuss them at length and today was a very Good Opportunity for this we also talked about migratory floaters all those talks between the shiloh the Turkish Foreign minister and the high commissioner for refugees well we are not brokering these negotiations but very much are in favor of the e. U. Turkey agreement and showed a willingness if necessary to offer more Financial Aid for this but the other aspects i talking about the Customs Union with turkey are not ones we want to lose sight of and so i believe this was a very important Video Conference which also took place under the conditions that are necessary otherwise we would of course of travel to istanbul but i think it was better to at least speak by video if we couldnt speak in person so that was what i wanted to inform you about now europe is joining forces here despite all of the different measures being put in place in the individual Member States to combat this crisis to do whats necessary both in terms of overcoming this crisis in medical terms but also in mitigating its impact on our economy is something that will be with us for some time that is clear but i think that the measures that weve put in place here are a good way of combating it. Who is concerned i know madam chancellor just one question with regarding what you said yesterday before your speech you said that you were hoping that we would be able to return to the shanghai regulations live emphasize this after hearing the various arguments of your european member state colleagues are you more optimistic or much has the mystic about which even this and then regarding the help with magical of the suppliers of china it would seem is supporting spain and italy or offering help anyway and that some have lamented that this expression of solidarity has not been felt within only a part of me but regarding your 2nd question let me say that we helped china. In turn germany sent medical equipment to china and the European Union sent considerable amounts of medical equipment to china china asked for help at that time and so i think that this is an effect of reciprocity that were seeing here. In unpredictable crisis of this kind and we can hardly expect everything to be provided within the framework of the European Union its simply reciprocity were seeing here and obviously were very pleased about it and im sure that the countries most affected are particularly pleased about it but beyond that regarding the regulation and a lot of these regulations allow certain exceptions so those who are certain restrictions on the Free Movement of citizens within the e. U. Are working in line with the schengen agreements the question is just how well is this being coordinated and then how can we ensure that the flow of goods work properly because this must continue and here were seeing long waiting times in some cases. Really. Transport through certain countries are suffering from longer waiting times and we discussed this and all of the parties involved said they want to meet you i mean i address this problem here in the german french and german luxembourg boarders you can see that this is working well this is all possible within the shanghai regulations and the freedom of movement of workers is something that also has to be allowed and the luxemburg Prime Minister said that 60 percent of his employees in the hospitals and of the Health Care Area are people who are commuting from outside of luxembourg so he absolutely requires this sort of commuting to work smoothly if the Health Care System in luxembourg are supposed to work so there is a high level of dependency germany cylon state for example is also very dependent on french employees for their Health Care System and so we are working as well as we can to ensure that this runs smoothly. Youre watching the news i bring golf this is our continuing coverage of the Coronavirus Crisis leaders of the European Union have just held an emergency Video Conference agreeing to unprecedented measures to stop the spread of the virus a ban on all travel by non the e. U. Citizens into the European Union is now in effect the elder boarder of the e. U. Is now german chancellor Angela Merkel she just outlined what was decided to go through that im joined here by our chief Political Correspondent melinda cranes and limitless lets go down the list lets start with the border issue what was discussed exactly this is something that french president mccraw has been pressing for for some time it had been discussed over recent days by members of the e. U. And the e. U. Commission made then in response to this a proposal yesterday which essentially was now agreed today in this Video Conference among the leaders and as you said that the proposal is that that outer border of the e. U. Will now be closed to almost all entry from non e. U. And other non related countries now i say almost because there will be some exceptions but very few she also talked about the borders with in europe the borders of whats called the Schengen Areas Schengen Area is that area of europe where people can come and go across the borders of nations as if they were essentially in one United Country and the countries within the Schengen Area have slowly been closing their borders to each other although normally that would not be allowed in shanghai and now the chancellors just pointed out that is however allowed under certain circumstances countries can close their borders we. Saw them do it in 2015 right during the influx of an enormous influx of migrants and were seeing them do it again and she was especially adamant about the fact that this must be closely coordinated because that the importance of ensuring the free flow of goods because of just supply chains spread out across europe particularly with an Enormous Economic crisis and company in this Health Crisis its essential to keep those goods flowing amongst the schengen countries thats one aspect another one is commuters there are many people who live in germany but commute to looks important for example who live in austria but commute to germany they have been having a lot of difficulties now with these border closures long waiting periods theyre difficult to get through the bottlenecks and that apparently was a major topic of discussion today all that being said one must say in regard to the closure of borders both within the Schengen Area and the external borders of europe there are many voices in europe that doubt the ultimate effectiveness of these measures it is too late polluting the chief of staff of the president of the e. U. Commission he said today once youve got the virus in a Community Within a country measures to close borders are marginally effective at best what you have to do is work on all these other measures like social distancing to try to stop the infection chain with in the countries themselves which is what we did we have been hearing that these measures are too late as you said the virus is already here and now there is concern that this crisis this corona virus crisis is going to morph into an economic crisis we heard today predictions coming from the United States as well as from the e. U. That this could be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930 that certainly had to be on the minds of leaders when they were in this Video Conference just salute we now that chancellor also did mention that she said. Said that they talked about the economic consequences there too the president of the e. U. Commission former German Defense minister also a frontal and has said she wants to see a very strong fiscal stimulus being given also at e. U. Level and its been a major topic here in germany as well with 2 of its Biggest Car Companies announcing today that they are shutting down production you know pretty extraordinary move as you know grant this country has some very good measure illing with that kind of an economic blow and basically they occur within this system called short work meaning that workers are kept on staff their wages are decreased to some degree because of the lack of demand but the government tops up essentially payments to them to ensure that money is kept in circulation and that people arent let go and those should help to cushion the impact to some degree here in germany but nonetheless were looking at a very serious situation with the president the decisions being made in the green is always going to thank you thank you. Ard france has joined neighboring italy and spain in ordering a complete lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus president manual describing the situation as a Public Health war the virus has killed nearly 150 people in the country infected more than 6600. As the clock struck noon in france the lock down took effect. People must now carry a document justifying their reasons for going outdoors only essential trips and exercise alone are permitted those who break the rules will be fined. The president has called the outbreak a war 100000 Police Officers have been deployed across the country officials stress that every day life must be appended to contain the virus. But we dont need his example concrete to give you some examples a family lunch dinner with friends a Football Game with friends a game of cards all of that which might not seem important normally is now for didnt more not only ill advised but forbidden each of those meetings lets not play it down is a moments when the virus can be transmitted it means running the risk of speeding the spread of 19. In the capital paris an unusual quiet has taken hold reactions to the lockdown are mixed i think its a bit through it. Should be able to walk on the streets if you want people to be to choose what they want. Bash was he said he said i think its necessary its an epidemic that spreading exponentially so is the contamination there are many asymptomatic carriers i could be one of them. The Health Ministry says the restrictions could be eased in a fortnight if the virus is sufficiently contained. While the other side of the atlantic the Trump Administration proposing an 850000000000. 00 stimulus package that would among other things send a 1000. 00 check to every american the package would also include 50000000000 dollars for the American Airline industry a cut in payroll taxes and further loans and guarantees for Small Businesses the plans come as governments around the world scramble to send direct aid to citizens affected by the pandemic it would still need to be passed by the u. S. Congress harold. I join me here the big table now is steve it beardsley from v. W. Business a check to every american citizen 4000. 00 right it sounds like something weve never seen before maybe it isnt a check to every american it sounds very trump in riots it sounds like something that sort of opening and gets your attention and maybe that would be part of the plan here is to really sort of boost confidence to give people that money to pay some outstanding bills or to go and spend it while the economy is still open remember that 2 thirds of the u. S. Economy is based on consumption right on super activity that means the travel industry the Hotel Industry the Restaurant Industry all the industries that are now being hit very very very hard and direct help was actually a part of the last big recession package it was just often put into. Measures tax credits for example and it was put into. Payroll withholdings was basically your withholdings were sort of decreased this is a lot of difference this would be an eye opener and it could hopefully join up a little bit of excitement or a little bit of help for people and i could imagine well get some criticism because a lot of people who dont need the money would be getting a check for a 1000. 00 of course that is one claim you know in recent years a lot of it was that this sort of looks like the universal basic income rich in light of already are saying that but as weve seen even the u. B. I. Actually has support on both conservative and liberal side so you might be surprised where some the support is coming from mitt romney the senator has been tied with this already saying look this is a good idea and then on the democratic side shared brown of ohio so there might be more support than you expect ok so were talking about 850000000000. 00 here in this stimulus plan is that comparable to recession packages weve seen in the past you know were definitely getting in that territory 153000000000. 00 measure by george bush to answer the recession when he was still in office about 780000000000. 00 from obama of course were not quite at the auto bailouts and the industry bailout the airlines will get a portion of this money but these 50000000000. 00 under the proposal is important to repeat its just a proposal you know the recession is different than whats happening now that saw credit freeze up and then a lot of businesses were damaged which then brought demand down this demand is very down and artificially so almost because there are fears over the virus but there are also so many restrictive measures that are basically keeping people home and shuttering businesses its something that really economies have never really seen and so they dont know how to respond to it and thats why you see this effort to really get as close as possible to the business and to the individual themselves they want to get as close as possible to directly pay directly give that money to them because theres a few they might not have enough time otherwise if they try to run it through the tax system through the banks that it may not help people are going to face bankruptcies because its a good point we heard from some political leaders in the United States today warning that this could be worse the. In the Great Depression of the 1930 s. In all of this money going for measures to stop the virus other people saying that actually the cure is going to be more expensive and worse than the actual virus it would be a cold calculus right because were talking about lives here and so no one would really actually put it in that way but its a good point to make when were trying to understand how this will shift the economy and how this will shift livelihoods livelihoods will change personal fortunes will change industries will be reshuffled frankly because of this and so there will be a long term effect just as there was from the Great Recession 10 years ago so whether its bigger or not will leave that to experts to save and look back but its clear that everything is going to change because of this and thats the way to peers right now and that uncertainty is really looming still Stephen Beardsley with the business stephen thank you very much helping us go through as we said unprecedented decisions being made today thank you if. The Parent Company of Mercedes Benz says it is suspending the majority of its european production in response to this pandemic the company says the shutdown affecting car van and commercial vehicle plans will be for an initial 2 week period which could then be extended or says it wants to interrupt infection chadians to contain the spread of the virus in its ranks and to also prepared for a period of temporarily lower demand and to protect the companys financial story. Now the german Car Companies are also shutting them Assembly Lines the worlds biggest although maker bokes wagon announcing that its suspending production in factories in germany and other countries management has warned investors and employees to expect a rocky road ahead. A banner year. With record profits and record levels of investment. But the coronavir