Macron: “Closing the borders with Italy is a bad decision”

Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that the restrictions imposed by Austria and the decision by Slovenia to close its border with Italy, the European country hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic, were “bad decisions”.

“I believe these are very sincerely bad decisions,” said the French president, when questioned after a videoconference with his EU counterparts on the announcements made on Tuesday by Slovenia to close its land border with Italy, and by Austria to drastically limit the entry into its territory of travelers from Italy.

In addition, the Head of State ensures that the countries of the European Union are “ready to take”, all together, “the essential measures” to “avoid any form of financial and economic instability” caused by the coronavirus crisis . The French president notably wanted the 27 to take decisions so that “the budgetary constraint” is not “a bulwark” against possible measures to support the economy.

At the end of the same conference, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that she would use “all the instruments available” to support the economies affected by the epidemic of new coronavirus. the measures envisaged, she cited State aid to companies in difficulty, flexibility in the application of the growth and stability pact or even a special fund in response to the epidemic.

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