Pandemic coronavirus this year will plunge the European Union into recession by 2-2,5%, said the European Commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton.
"Obviously, we are expecting a recession in 2020," - said Breton radio BFM Business. "We are at war with the virus. This is an economic war."
"Before the crisis we were expecting about 1.4% economic growth for the entire continent, and now we expect a negative impact of between 2% to 2.5%", he added.
Pandemic has already led to changes or breakages of global supply chains, prompting many countries to close their borders. Europe has become the new epicentre of the outbreak, which resulted in a total quarantine of citizens in Italy and Spain.
France has called for a massive and coordinated fiscal stimulus measures in Europe. Until now, the most economic measures to mitigate impact have been taken at the national level.
Euro zone Finance Ministers will meet Monday to coordinate their responses to the economic consequences of the outbreak of coronavirus.
