EU recovery plan to be ready in weeks, to be approved in June: Top official

The European Commission will prepare in the next weeks a plan to finance the economic recovery in the European Union, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Paolo Gentiloni said on Wednesday.

He said that he was confident the plan would be approved by EU leaders in June.

Gentiloni told a news conference the plan would include a mix of grants and long-term loans.

He also said that the Commission would present to eurozone finance ministers on Friday an eligibility assessment for the use of the eurozone bailout fund's precautionary credit line to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and that all eurozone countries would be eligible for the money.

The EU, over the pandemic, has entered the deepest economic recession in its history, he said.

"The coronavirus caused an unprecedented economic crisis," Gentiloni said.

Gentiloni presented the EU’s 2020 spring economic forecast, and according to the report, its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract 7.4% in 2020.

“Both recession and recovery will be uneven,” he stressed.

Inflation will be significantly weaker due to the fall of consumer prices, while unemployment is set to rise despite government measures, he added.

(With inputs from Reuters)