In 2019, Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s former deputy prime minister and current minister of foreign affairs said “France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts.
Americans have been locked in their homes fearing a new virus that has killed more than 100,000 Americans this year, but the death of just one man on the 25th of May brought them out onto the streets to protest, with looting and setting of fires raising fears of civil war.
Addressing the European Parliament on Wednesday 27 May 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed that the European Union take on debt of €750 Billion in order to provide €500 Billion of grants and €250 Billion of loans to countries in Europe suffering economic damage from the COVID-19 lockdowns.