One we could all come to play to future to feed and security i think it should be spent that big together only thing i do stuff to get it would fall apart. Also coming up with a coronavirus has made solidarity in europe hard to come by and very expensive a stimulus package to rescue e. U. Economies is on the way the price tag half a trillion europes when france and germany give a 2nd no i think to hold off europe is in better shape to form an opinion and to progress. To our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with proof that there is strength in numbers last month when australia 1st called for an International Investigation into the. The 19 pandemic china immediately baulked at the idea beijing accused australia of doing the dirty work of the United States which claims that china withheld information in the pandemics 1st day but in just the past 2 weeks australian suggestion has attracted global attention and Global Support today 120. 00 countries and the European Union said that they are in favor of an impartial inquiry much of the world wants answers and now china apparently does to beijing also wants an investigation as soon as the pandemic is over of chinas position change did nothing to change the stance of its main critic the United States i want you to take a listen to what representatives of the u. S. In china said today during a Virtual Summit of the world health cope at 19 as tragically taken hundreds of thousands of lives impacted millions of people and a deep damage to the World Economy we must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control there was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world needed and that failure cost many lives in an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations with tremendous cost for the entire world we saw that w. 2 failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency when Member States do not act in good faith this cannot ever happen again. But not in the long china has acted with openness transparency and responsibility should. We have provided the information to the w. H. O. And rather than countries in a most timely fashion. We release the genome sequence of the earliest possible time we shared our experiences in control and treatment we have done everything in our power to support and assist countries in need. It when i thought in truth. Well for more now im joined by dr Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization in geneva dr its good to see you again weve got 120 countries that are in agreement that the w. H. O. Should carry out an independent investigation of itself is that possible. So what they are in agreement with is this should be an independent investigation of where what we have learned from this outbreak and thats really really important to know at whats gone right whats gone wrong and what we can apply Going Forward of course how thats going to be set up and how thats going to be done its not clear and way a secretariat attain that of fighting this outbreak no thats not what we will be doing but it is up to the Member States to decide how it will be done so when be done by us the secretary of. The w. H. O. Will obviously use science to guide any investigation but if the w. H. O. Wants to deliver clear answers its going to have to do forensics investigating its going to have to ask labs in showing that have worked with coronavirus before to open up their books does the w. H. O. Does it have the forensics expertise to do that and does it have the Political Authority to make that happen. So im of the International Health regulations we all school countries and all countries under the dont think and to share data but we cannot compel so but again any kind of investigation of that kind you need to set the questions you need to set the parameters you need to have agreement by the countries how these things were done so were quite a long way off working out the actual needs he gritty of such an investigation we know that all stroy in the United States reportedly want a resolution calling for harder measures against china china has agreed reportedly because the resolution has been watered down the European Union we understand was the mediator in the Bridge Builder between the 2 sides can you confirm that is that what happened. All those discussions happening between the Member States so you have to understand the weight of works its a member state organization and they are our bosses but we the secretariat do the work so thats like policy but like the politicians and like them the the stuff of the Health Department and we have the stuff to do the work the Member States to the negotiation certainly from australias presentation they gave. It they had a desire for an investigation looking at what we can learn from whats gone on before and what we can take forward. China says it wants an investigation to happen after the pandemic is over but you and i both know that that could be of some time a long time in the future is that in anyones interest to wait that long. So refuse things that you you know especially when youve got something thats going as long as it is there we actually review the evidence all the time in fact we have already had need to bend and investigation all over really response by something called our independent oversight Assessment Committee that look at our Emergency Response they were set up in 2016 when we were formed in order to have much stronger Operational Response and they were already built and said the things that with that are just being mentioned giving w. H. O. Of maybe more powers to ask countries or compel countries to give better data these things theyve already raised so far going investigations could certainly be done its not clear exactly when they can be done. And let me just ask you dr harris as a as a medical professional want to get your reaction to news today that a former sukumar dinner has reported success in its early human trials with a vaccine what your reaction is that thats the 1st report that we have so far that. Well i havent actually actually seen the studies but quite a number of groups have certainly said promising. The same promising responses in the human. Studies but the issue is you need to have study for quite a period with a large number of people in order to ensure not only that they are effective but also the safe safe yeah and but were certainly happy to have the good news to report tonight dr Margaret Harris with the World Health Organization joining us tonight from geneva as always doctors we appreciate your time and your insights thank you. Thank you. What china cannot lay all the blame on the United States for the international communitys suspicions and dell the Chinese Government is accused of trying to silence and even punish its own physicians who tried to alert the world when the outbreak began and there is chinas heavy hand in Foreign Policy china reportedly blocked taiwan from participating in todays w. H. O. Assembly and remember taiwan has valuable information to share about how it has successfully limited the outbreak lessons the world could benefit from if only beijing were standing in the way. No lockdown of any kind despite its proximity to china taiwan is one of the few spots on earth where life has continued close to normal throughout the pandemic with only a few 100 Coronavirus Infections and less than 10 deaths taiwans handling of the crisis is a unique Success Story all the more surprising that the w. H. O. Doesnt seem to be interested in taiwans approach the organization blocked taiwan from taking part in its annual meeting several years ago under pressure from beijing that has deprived the island of access to crucial information about the virus. We were successful yes. Without that platform it was very hard night we dont have many serious cases so treatment what bobby tees protocols for serious cases a licking will taiwan we need to stop this kind of political right to. Talk hold on to the more important issues like health of everyone involved dr lu used to be a delegate to the w. H. O. When taiwan was still allowed to attend the assembly as an observer but that ended on beijings behest when taiwans president from the Pro IndependenceParty Took Office 4 years ago china claims that island as its own territory and therefore deems taiwan has no right to w. H. O. Membership. That politics should be set aside when it comes to Health Issues yes its good for taiwan to share its experience with the world but you know again our tehran is made a contribution to Public Health its unfit to be excluded now if we have full blown. Taiwan has maintained its infection rate lower than almost anywhere else with 0 domestic infections for over a month even so the taiwanese havent let their guard down. Perhaps this is one of the things the world and the w. H. O. Could learn from this island. Half a trillion. Trillion thats 12 zeros and astronomical saw which german chancellor Angela Merkel and french president emmanuel mccrone have pledged to speed europes economic recovery from the Coronavirus Crisis well how do you get your hands on these amounts for the 1st time germany is offering its excellent Credit Rating to help borrow money for the fund heres more now from merkel and. Its Wishful Thinking to hope europes economies could bounce back as easily as these parisian after months under lockdown even before the e. U. Commission presents its aid package palin and paris are rushing through a joint initiative for economic recovery in a bid to put this crippling face behind them. In a joint News Conference with the french president chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the coronavirus pandemic is endangering european unity. Moster recovery thats why the fund has to help ensure that all countries in europe can react appropriately inspiration this requires an extraordinary one off effort also which france and germany are ready to undertake a funk i think but i think that if this is the result of bilateral work in cooperation with our partners im convinced that this plan provides the groundwork to revive our lives our economies and our societies. To offset the drastic decline in production transport and tourism across europe this Development Fund will get an injection of 500000000000 euros e. U. Budget funds will be made available to the hardest hit regions and sectors. The overall plan is designed to strengthen the e. U. s future viability of team dean and use of these resources will of course serve this purpose we will invest in digitization and the green deal to cope with the climate catastrophe stomach and that will inspire a new dynamic for the future in the field of health we will aim for cooperation to apply all weve learned from this crisis together. That sounds like support for the e. U. Commission whose economic Recovery Plan is being drafted the commissions president is expected to present it next week if more now is bringing eric jones hes the director of european and your Asian Studies at Johns HopkinsUniversity School of advanced International Studies in belong italy and that is where he joins me this evening pervez or jones its good to have you on the program 500000000000 euro some of it will not have to be paid back what about where you are will italy be able to live with this. Well i think 500000000000 euros is a lot of money lets not kid ourselves its a very small amount of money compared to the scale of the crisis that we face so i have to figure out how were going to scale the gap between the number of hits being offered right now and the number thats required i think italy will gratefully receive any support that it can get but obviously if the crisis continues to deepen and italy is going to need more support in the future so lets hope that this sign of agreement is a sign of good things to come you wrote last month that now is the time for europes leaders to do whatever it takes to save europe whatever it takes is half a 1000000000 euros doing whatever it takes and look across the atlantic at the United States and what youll find is that the very 1st stabilization act that was passed was a stabilization act for about 2 trillion dollars this current on money is 500000000000. 00 that youre talking about right now it is equivalent to one quarter of that the coronavirus Economic Stabilization act at the end the bottom of the big package with us at so i think this is a good sign in having france and germany come to agreement is excellent but its not going to be enough overall and we know that there will be no carona bonds in this economic package but as we were saying earlier germany is willing to lend its excellent Credit Rating to help borrow money for this font but we heard today that the german chancellor said that that is a one off what do you make of that. Well i think its going to be interesting right even though the whole purpose of this fun it is to use the European Commission as an agency to incur a significant amount of debt and if the European Commission develops the kind of expertise necessary to run those kinds of treasury operations then why wouldnt you use it in the future if the need were to arise they started with the sure program which is the commissions Assistance Program for unemployment now the french and germans are proposing to expand that with this new 500000000000. 00 package or a 500000000000. 00 euro package that you mentioned if they can go even further than that then i think that would be a Good Development for your. Yeah i wonder if they can go further than that and you also wrote last month that e. U. Leaders they should unbind europe or they should risk europes dimaio talk to me a little bit about what unbinding should look like in your pain. Well unbinding that were talking about in that context is there are a number of different constraints that are placed on europes ability to spend funds and the most important constraint are the constraints that are wrapped around the european stability mechanism which is the mechanism thats supposed to bail out sovereign states and the question is whether that mechanism can lend money without conditions and weve already seen that thats possible so the unbinding has begun now were seeing another form of unbinding as the European Commission is allowed to take on debt games that wont be any more Financial Framework i think thats an Important Development as well the question is whether we can scale up this level of activity necessary to meet in a manner necessary to respond to the scale of the crisis that we face profesor do you foresee a future in which the dutch and the greeks will be able to see eye to eye when it comes to dealing with National FinancesNational Budgets i mean will there ever be in this european project Common Ground or harmonization of any kind to me we still have these separate fiscal and monetary policies well i mean i dont think that the dudgeon the greeks are ever going to see eye to eye on a large number of things but i think that the differences in physical terms between the dutch and the greeks are probably smaller than they are between people who live in massachusetts and people who live in New Hampshire lets not forget in massachusetts they have it come tax in New Hampshire they have very little tax at all and i mean and if the United States can hang together with that radical physical cultures living cheek by jowl then i think the European Union can live together with the differences that we see in the eurozone now well that if its so minor then how do you explain the resistance i mean the resistance its almost in the d. N. A. Of northern europe. Well i mean i come from the south in the United States and their resistance to the federal government is pretty much baked into the d. N. A. As well and a lot scarier than it is here in europe the issue in the european context is the extent to