EU chief proposes Europe-wide unemployment guarantee

The EU on Thursday proposed a bloc-wide guarantee that could raise 100 billion euros ($109 billion) to aid strained national unemployment schemes as millions of jobs are hit by efforts to slow the coronavirus outbreak

The proposal by European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen is intended to heal a bitter divide among EU member states over how to respond to the severe economic recession that will result from the epidemic

In the complex scheme, the bloc's 27 national governments would give a budget to Brussels so the EU executive could raise money on the markets to fund member states struggling to help the unemployed and part-time workers.