Labour MEP Alfred Sant has warned that the EU is "grossly underestimating" the medium term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and that there was little to no safety margin in resource measures to compensate for this.

In a statement following a European Parliament debate on a resolution on the EU's coordinated response to the pandemic, for which he voted in favour, the former Prime Minister expressed several reservations on the proposed measures. 

The resolution adopted by the Parliament calls on the European Commission to propose a massive recovery and reconstruction package for investment to support the European economy after the crisis, beyond what the European Stability Mechanism, the European Investment Bank and the European Central Bank are already doing.

Sant, however, said the EU was underestimating the ripple effects resulting from the economic downturn as well as its actual extent, even if the public health situation improves overall according to the available best-case scenarios.

"The financial 'bazooka' being used on a European level is not impressive enough, even if added to the national efforts by member state governments, especially when compared with that of the US. Moreover the way it was negotiated and agreed betrays the lack of a common vision regarding the objectives that are being set" Sant said.

"The so-called north-south controversy is obscuring the probability that, contrary to the 2008 financial crisis, knock-on and knockdown effects will this time swing from south to north, vice versa, and back, since both production and demand have been hit deeply within our single market which over the last 10 years, has become increasingly services oriented."