After a group meeting of Renew Europe MEPs on 25 March to prepare the extraordinary plenary of the European Parliament, Dacian Cioloș, President of Renew Europe, has called on the European Council and the European Commission to be more ambitious and move faster on more comprehensive measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Renew Europe calls for a second emergency plenary meeting of the European Parliament to be held as soon as possible to outline additional urgent and strong EU actions to save lives, mitigate the health and economic impact and define a strategy for Europe after the crisis.

Commenting on 25 March, Dacian Cioloș stated:

"Renew Europe will tomorrow support the first emergency package proposed by the European Commission, to channel 37 billion euro to fight against the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Nevertheless, considering the scale of this crisis, the first emergency package tabled by the Commission and the measures currently discussed within the Council are simply not enough. More ambitious EU measures are required, and these must be put in place very quickly, to save lives and protect jobs." 

“Renew Europe has already completed an analysis of further steps and tabled proposals to step up EU responses; these should now be acted upon by both the Council and the Commission. We also call for an additional extraordinary plenary of the European Parliament to present a united position of the EP. It’s time for the EU institutions to show leadership, action and ambition to make the difference in this crisis. We can defeat COVID-19 through unity and solidarity.”