No free gifts or joint debt, EU 'frugals' say

EU pandemic bailouts should be loans, not grants, and there should be no joint debt, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden said in a joint statement Saturday. "We propose to create an Emergency Recovery Fund based on a 'loans for loans' approach," they said. Arrangements should "not [lead] to any mutualisation of debt", the so-called "frugal four" added, after France and Germany earlier agreed more generous conditions.