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How is the European Union dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and financial meltdown?

A man waits for a train at the nearly empty Central station in Brussels, Monday, March 16, 2020. Belgium has closed schools, restaurants and bars as well as cancelled cultural and sporting events in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

As cases of COVID-19 multiply across the European continent, European Union officials have taken drastic steps to slow the spread of the disease and stem the financial havoc it will wreak. Still, leaders in Brussels have a few more mechanisms at their disposal that could serve to unify EU member states and ease the flow of goods and services, says political science professor Mai’a Cross.

This week, the EU closed its borders to non-residents for at least 30 days, and on Thursday, the European Central Bank took a major step that included a €750 billion asset-purchase program to stem an economic meltdown caused by the pandemic. Leaders in Brussels will also begin collecting medical supplies for a common reserve (which they are calling the “rescEU stockpile”) to be redistributed to the member states that need it most.

Read more at News@Northeastern.

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