EU chief apologises to Italy but baulks at 'coronabonds'

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told Italy on Thursday that European nations were ready to help it deal with the coronavirus after initially focusing on "their own home problems".

But the EU leader stopped short of agreeing to Rome's request for the bloc to start issuing joint debt -- dubbed "coronabonds" -- that could let countries such as Italy address the crisis more cheaply.

"Today Europe is mobilising alongside Italy.

Unfortunately, this has not always been the case," von der Leyen wrote in Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

"It must be recognised that in the early days of the crisis, in the face of the need for a common European response, too many have thought only of their own home problems."
Von der Leyen said the EU "will allocate up to 100 billion euros ($110 billion) to the hardest hit countries, starting from Italy, to compensate for the reduction in the wages of those working on shorter hours."