French minister says failure to agree eurozone virus rescue 'unthinkable'

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday that a failure by his eurozone peers to agree a coronavirus rescue package was "unthinkable" and expressed hope they would overcome their differences at a meeting tomorrow. "Our collective responsibility is to come to an agreement within 24 hours. A failure is unthinkable," Le Maire said after marathon overnight eurozone finance minister talks stalled on disagreements about how to fund the package.

"I do not want to point the finger of blame at anyone because I think that would not be useful," he added. France has backed Italy and Spain, among the hardest hit countries, in seeking pooled EU debt to raise funds but Germany and the Netherlands oppose this option.