EU Starts Long Trek Toward Coronavirus Bailout

The EU has finally agreed on a financial rescue plan that involves rich countries raising money to help out poor countries:

Leaders ultimately agreed on a €750 billion recovery plan. Of that, €390 billion will be offered in grants and the rest will come in the form of loans. That is down from €500 billion recently proposed by Brussels.

Don’t get too excited yet, though. The real fireworks are yet to come as this deal starts going through the approval process at the national level. Some countries will approve it quickly but there are bound to be a few holdouts—and it seems likely that at least one of the holdouts will take things to the very last second and then either approve or disapprove by a tiny margin. That’s the EU for you.