Italy PM hails "great progress" by EU on coronavirus economic response

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday that European Union leaders had made "great progress" towards an acceptable economic response to the coronavirus crisis.

In a Facebook post after an EU leaders video conference, Conte said a "Recovery Fund" to be set up by the European Commission must be large enough to allow the countries worst hit by the epidemic "to protect their social and economic fabric."

"We have made great progress, unthinkable until a few weeks ago," Conte said.