BERLIN, May 20 (Reuters) - A Franco-German proposal for a half-trillion euro fund to support European Union countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic is not about joint borrowing or joint bonds, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday.
The bloc’s budget rules would still apply, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a regular news conference. “There is also a binding repayment plan.”
“It is distinctly different from joint borrowing,” Seibert said, adding the proposal does not mean there would be joint bonds in disguise. (Reporting by Thomas Seythal; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
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