EC approves 3 trillion euros in aid to EU countries for 2 years of COVID pandemic

Since the beginning of March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began in Europe, the European Commission (EC) has approved more than 3 trillion euros in aid to EU member states, Report informs referring to the EC website.

“As of today, the Commission adopted more than 1,300 decisions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, approving nearly 950 national measures for an estimate total State aid amount approved of over €3 trillion. All aid approved to date has been necessary and proportionate. Of course, one thing is the amount of aid notified by Member States and approved by the Commission, and another thing is the aid actually spent. Based on data provided by Member States, in the period between mid-March 2020 and end of June 2021, of the over €3 trillion in aid approved during that period, around €730 billion euros was actually spent,” the Commission said.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, almost 518.8 million coronavirus infections and more than 6.25 million deaths have been recorded in the world. The United States accounts for the higher number of confirmed cases reported to WHO - 80,676,055. It is followed by India (43,088,118), Brazil (30,460,997), France (27,921,895) and Germany (25,033,970). The United States is also responsible for the highest number of deaths - 986,698, followed by Brazil (663,602) and India (523,920). They are followed by Russia (377,248) and Mexico (324,334).