CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

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 Tuesday, April 14, 2020 - 09:41

Italy warns of EU collapse amid bailout row

PM says bloc faces ‘appointment with history’ over failure to agree rescue plan

Martin Bentham

ITALY’S Prime Minister has warned the EU could collapse if it fails in its response to the coronavirus crisis as he signalled his country’s lockdown might be eased later this month.

Giuseppe Conte said that Europe’s leaders were "facing an appointment with history" that they must not miss as he hit out over the failure so far to agree a financial rescue package for his and other badly affected EU countries.

His warning, in an interview with the BBC, came as Mr Conte indicated that he could be ready to lift some restrictions in his country by the end of April because the infection rate in Italy, the European country worst hit by Covid-19, was beginning to fall.

He said: "It’s likely that if scientists confirm it, we might be able to relax some measures already by the end of this month.

"Experts are confirming that the curve is starting to decline and stabilise.

The number of infections is falling.

We’re confident that if we continue this way we will overcome the worst phase.

But we cannot lower our guard."

Statistics published yesterday showed only a one per cent rise in new infections over the previous 24 hours.

The death toll is also down, with 542 fatalities in the latest daily statistics not far off half the peak of 919 recorded a fortnight ago.

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