Austria insists on virus aid loans instead of grants -Die Presse

Austria insists that the European Union's emergency aid for coronavirus-hit member states should be based on repayable loans not grants, Austrian daily Die Presse said on Tuesday, citing the Chancellery. The European Union's biggest powers Germany and France proposed a 500 billion euro ($546 billion) fund on Monday that would offer non-repayable grants to EU regions and sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, with the cash borrowed by the bloc as a whole rather than by individual member states.

The plan requires the consent of all EU members. "We will continue to show solidarity and support countries most affected by the corona crisis, but this must be done through loans and not through grants," the paper quoted a chancellery statement as saying.