Finance ministers across the Eurozone finally came to an agreement on financial aid worth 0.5 trillion euros to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. French finance minister Bruno Le Maire hailed the plan, stating, “Europe has shown that it can rise to the occasion of this crisis.”

However, countries are yet to agree on how to proceed with recovery after the pandemic subsides, even as the likelihood of Eurozone slipping into recession continues to climb higher. There is still no confirmation whether member nations will deploy joint debt to finance recovery, an option put forward by Italy, France and Spain.

For now, the European Investment Bank will lend up to 200 billion euros to affected companies. In addition, the Eurozone’s European Stability Mechanism will also offer cheap credit worth 240 billion euros that governments can make use of.

As a next step, the plan has to be approved by EU27 countries within the next few days. So far, the EU has approved a total of 3.2 trillion euros worth of fiscal stimulus to offset the economic damage the coronavirus pandemic could create.