Video conference of foreign affairs ministers (development), 8 April 2020

Main results

In this global pandemic, international solidarity is not just a matter of staying true to our values. It is also about making sure that we win the fight against the virus together. Unless the virus is defeated everywhere, it is not defeated. A global pandemic can only be solved globally, with united, swift and decisive global action, as we are presenting it today.

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

EU development ministers held an informal meeting via videoconference to discuss the implications of the COVID-19 worldwide, and greenlighted the launch of a “Team Europe” package to support partner countries in the fight against the pandemic and its consequences, with an overall financial support amounting to more than €20 billion from existing external action resources.

The package will help the most vulnerable countries in particular in Africa, the EU’s neighbourhood, but also Asia and the Pacific, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. It will focus on the people most at risk, including children, women, the elderly, and disabled people, as well as migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons and their host communities.

The “Team Europe” approach will combine resources from the EU, its member states, and financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and will make available more than €20 billion. Priority will be given to:

• responding to the immediate health crisis and the resulting humanitarian needs
• strengthening health, water and sanitation systems, as well as partner countries’ capacities and preparedness to deal with the pandemic
• mitigating the immediate social and economic consequences

Ministers also underlined that work would continue in partnership with the United Nations, International Financial Institutions, as well as the G7 and the G20.

• Coronavirus: EU global response to fight the pandemic (press release, 8 April 2020)