After a 16-hour teleconference that concluded on Wednesday morning, eurozone finance ministers failed to find an agreement on the economic response to tackle the impact of the coronavirus, Euractiv reported. 

“After 16h of discussions we came close to a deal but we are not there yet,” said Eurogroup President Mario Centeno on his Twitter account. The conference will resume on Thursday.

Before starting the video conference on Tuesday, Centeno shared a video message and promised that the Eurogroup would host the largest aid program in its history with a total volume of € 540 billion to restore the economy after the coronavirus pandemic. This program should combine the measures and schemes proposed earlier by various EU institutions to assist various sectors of the community’s economy.

The Eurogroup was created in 1998, its activities are aimed at coordinating the financial and monetary policies of the states of the euro area.

According to the latest estimates of the European Commission published in mid-March, instead of the economic growth projected in the EU for 2020 at 1.4%, there will be a decline of at least 1% amid the pandemic. According to sources, the European Commission is reportedly exploring possible actions if a scenario is implemented with a decline of 2.5% of GDP.