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Dalai lama lauds EU’s Covid-19 recovery fund to lift economy

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HH the Dalai Lama is welcomed by European Parliament president Schulz in Strasbourg in September 2016 (Reuters)
HH the Dalai Lama is welcomed by European Parliament president Schulz in Strasbourg in September 2016 (Reuters)

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, July 22: Exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama has welcomed the European Union’s decision to create a €750 billion ($858 billion) recovery fund to rebuild EU economies that has been devastated by the Wuhan Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is heartening to know that European Union leaders have succeeded in meeting one of the toughest challenges in the organization’s history by agreeing a package of measures to rescue their economies from the disruption caused by the pandemic.

“Once again, the European Union has shown the importance of taking the common interests of all its members into account. Through persistent negotiation and compromise the respective leaders have reached an agreement. This shows wisdom and maturity in a world often unsettled by emotional crises,” the Dalai Lama said in a statement Wednesday.

A long time admirer of the EU model, the octogenarian Tibetan leader added that he wished the organisation success in combating common threats of climate change and global warming.

After almost five days of discussions, the EU made public the details of the Covid-19 recovery fund. The European Commission will borrow the money on financial markets and distribute nearly half the sum of €390 billion euros ($446 billion) as grants to the hardest hit EU states, with the rest to be provided as loans.

“It is an ambitious and comprehensive package combining the classical [budget] with an extraordinary recovery effort destined to tackle the effects of an unprecedented crisis in the best interest of the EU,” the EU leaders said in a joint declaration.

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