EU - Coronavirus Debt: Netherlands refuses to 'Go Dutch' on EU coronavirus debt

As the European Union spars over an emergency economic package for countries reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dutch have revived their image of thriftiness by refusing to support a plea by southern members to take on collective debt.

Read more at:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-eu-netherlands/netherlands-refuses-to-go-dutch-on-eu-coronavirus-debt-idUSKCN21R31J

EU - Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine

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Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine – POLITICO

European Union: Only a ‘New Deal’ can rescue the European project – by M J. Rodrigues and P.Magnette

 If the European project is to survive it requires a plan on the scale of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Read more at:
https://www.socialeurope.eu/only-a-new-deal-can-rescue-the-european-project

Netherlands: Coronavirus: 18,803 Cases and 1,867 Deaths - Worldometer

Netherlands Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

Read more at:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/netherlands/

Coronavirus: Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy

As coronavirus spreads rapidly the Dutch official stance has been criticised as cold-hearted.

Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52135814

Dutch flower industry continues to wither amid coronavirus

Growers are preserving what they have in storage or fields, however the reality is that almost all of this 12 month’s harvest will possible go to waste.

“The loss is huge,” said Michel van Schie of FloraHolland, the world’s dominant flower clearing house for public sales.

“In the intervening time we now have solely 30% of our regular turnover, and ... that during the busiest period of the year.”

Each day gross sales in March typically move 20 million euros ($22 million) of flowers, which continue with strong sales into the Easter vacation and Mothers Day..

In all, 35% of the world's flower and plant exports, valued at 6.2 billion euros over a 12 months period, move through the Netherlands, principally from Dutch growers, but additionally from African and Latin American farms.

Van Schie said the situation became specially acute on March 13 with the  flight cancellations and bans on public gatherings at many international events. This meant almost 1 / 4 of flowers up for public sale that day went unsold and had to be thrown out.

“Subsequent on that Monday it was 50%, after which we had to take unpleasant measures and we had to tell our growers ‘please diminish your stock’ as a result much of the stock had to be destroyed.”

Read more at: Dutch flower industry continues to wither amid coronavirus - Sunriseread

Netherlands willing to contribute €1 billion to EU coronavirus fund no strings attached

The Dutch government is willing to contribute up to 1 billion euros to a yet-to-be-established European fund aimed at dealing with the coronavirus, Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance said. Countries hit hard by Covid-19 and that are not in good financial health can turn to the fund to finance medical aid. "I am thinking roughly of a few hundred million to 1 billion euros," Hoekstra said to NU.nl on Wednesday.

The Finance Minister stressed that this is not a loan, but a gift, and the Netherlands' "substantial contribution to public health in Europe". Countries who call on this fund must clearly need help, Hoekstra said. Figuring out exactly how the control and release of the funds will work, and the conditions attached, is the next step, he said.

Unlike the still contested European Stability Mechanism (ESM), contribution to this fund is not mandatory for EU Member States. The member states are free to decide if and how much they want to contribute. According to Hoekstra, there is "broad enthusiasm" among his European colleagues for this fund.

Hoekstra stressed that the Netherlands is and will remain vehemently against so-called coronabonds, where the funds raised from selling such bond instruments would be used to help all member states overcome economic hurdles during the ongoing health crisis. The money could then be invested in supporting any EU member state, while repayment obligations would be the responsibility of the entire EU. Italy and Spain, both very hard hit by the coronavirus, insist on such bonds, the Netherlands and other countries including Germany, France and Belgium are against it.

The Dutch resistance to coronabonds resulted in fierce criticism from Italy. Especially after Hoekstra said that countries should first pull out all the stops to recover from the economic downturn themselves.

This statement prompted indignation, given that the Netherlands has far less public debt than Italy and therefore has much more financial room.

Read more: Netherlands willing to contribute €1 billion to EU coronavirus fund | NL Times