European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for a Marshall Plan for Europe's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, telling MEPs that it needed to be put in place immediately.

Measures

In an address to the European Parliament on Thursday, she said “unprecedented measures” would be needed to make sure the continent’s economy was ready to bounce back as soon as possible.

She also apologised to Italy on behalf of Europe, saying “too many were not there on time when Italy a needed a helping hand”.

‘Real Europe’

Acknowledging that no one had been ready for the pandemic, she said the “real Europe” was now standing up, and had become “the world's beating heart of solidarity”.

Ms von der Leyen defended the EU’s response to the economic effects of the crisis, citing €3 trillion worth of measures.

Europe “has done more in the last four weeks than it did in the first four years of the last crisis”, she told MEPs.

She added, however, that a lot more would be needed, and urged members to “come out of entrenched positions”.

The commission president said the next seven-year European budget would be “the mothership of the recovery” and must be used to rebuild the single market after the COVID-19 crisis.