Is through with me. And the us states where churches are permitted to keep their doors open, despite the lockdown. Hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. Were covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. First, it may be through gritted teeth, but European Union finance ministers have agreed an Emergency Rescue package for the economies worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The president of the eurogroup, mario centeno, described the proposal as bold and ambitious that were unthinkablejust a few weeks ago. Matt graveling reports. While video links kept ministers apart, the message did not. Solidarity is key. A phrase born three weeks of discussion and part of the first major step to repair economies left battered by the coronavirus pandemic. We can all remember the response to the financial crisis of the last decade, when europe did too little too late. This time around is different. Different to the tune of 500 billion euros,
Welcome to hardtalk. I am stephen sackur. The coronavirus pandemic has hit europe hard, but now that most eu Member States have curbed the rate of infection and begun to ease their lockdowns, does the eu have a coherent recovery strategy . My guest todayis coherent recovery strategy . My guest today is mario centeno, finance minister of portugal and head of the euro Group Eurozone group of ministers. Has this pandemic exposed the eus greatest weakness . Economic divergences. Mario centeno in lisbon, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Thank you for having me. We saw deep divisions within the European Union at the beginning of the covid 19 pandemic. Have those divisions been healed . you look back, you may see that these divisions have played a role in all the debate. But at the end of the day, we were able to act fast in a very flexible way, and for me, as president of the euro group, which is very important in a very pragmatic way, we had a few goals to achieve, to react quickly in a size
Now on bbc news, hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. The coronavirus pandemic has hit europe hard, but now that most eu Member States have curbed the rate of infection and begun to ease their lockdowns, does the eu have a coherent recovery strategy . My guest today is mario centeno, finance minister of portugal and head of the eurogroup of ministers. Has this pandemic exposed the eus greatest weakness economic divergence . Mario centeno, in lisbon, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Thank you, stephen. Thank you for having me. We saw deep divisions within the European Union at the beginning of the covid 19 pandemic. Have those divisions been healed . If you look back, you may see that these divisions have played a role in all the debate. But at the end of the day, we were able to act fast, in a very flexible way and, for me, as president of the eurogroup, which is very important, in a very pragmatic way. We had a few goals to achieve, to react quickly in a sizeable way and i
Optimistic than it was a few years ago. And he wasnt alone in his optimism euro Group President Mario Centeno pointing to greeces better than expected performance in twenty seventeen. Times for we read. That piece called prime primary surplus four point two percent to twenty seven. Point five times what brought you back to the program greece has received a total of two hundred sixty billion euros as part of three bailouts since twenty tan its latest and most likely its last bailout runs out in august. The loans have come in exchange for sweeping and highly unpopular Public Sector reforms which saw pensions slashed and a freeze on recruitment we gain economic autonomy would be a Major Political achievement for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras whose assured European Commission president john claude younker that he wont backtrack on reforms in the post bailout era for more on that lets cross over to our correspondent who is at the eurozone finance ministers meeting in sofia for us whats the
Angela merkel arrives in the u. S. For talks with President Donald Trump well look ahead to the meeting that promises to be brief but far from easy. And a new beginning for saudi women well take a look at how attitudes towards womens Participation Participation in sports and fitness are changing in the conservative kingdom. Welcome to the program. The leaders of north and south korea have pledged to formally and the two countries state of war sixty five years after the end of combat and a landmark summit kim jong un and monday in announce their plan for peace they vowed to seek a nuclear free Korean Peninsula and a formal peace treaty by years and north koreas kim said the two countries are like family linked by blood and cannot be separated the leaders insisted they do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past its been a day of monumental breakthroughs in the standoff between the koreas lets take a look at what the two leaders have agreed to so far a plan to convert the cease fire i