Last last night we got a preliminary deal among EU finance ministers, on a rescue package for the bloc& #39;s economies. It& #39;s headline figure is "half a trillion euros"- our story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/europe/coronavirus-european-union-bailout.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/0... #thread

Colleagues at the FT, Bloomberg are good sources for the nitty gritty. You can also read the statement, which EU leaders are due to approve & elaborate on next week, here (warning: jargon & obfuscation in the wording) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/04/09/report-on-the-comprehensive-economic-policy-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic/">https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/...

My take is that this is a conservative package, and that seen as a compromise between the 2 extremes of Italy & the Netherlands, this result is tilted in favor of the Netherlands end of that spectrum. While wording helps spin, spin won& #39;t last because reality is on its way fast.

The reason is *not* the failure to seriously examine prospects of a corona fund & subsequent bond issuance [this, buried at the bottom of the statement under silly expressions like "innovative financial instruments" is dead in the water]. We knew coronabonds were farfetched.

The reason, rather is the limitation of the ESM credit line -restricted per NL demands to health expenditure. Together w modalities (awful word) = ESM loans will not be taken up by Italy. Thanks to @Mij_Europe who flags a debt sustainability analysis is hiding between the words.