New crisis of intransigence

[Balance of Power]( From [Bloomberg Politics]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  European Union leaders [are inching toward]( an agreement on how to rebuild their economy when the coronavirus subsides. But the lowest common denominator approach they are likely to stick with on today’s videoconference is as significant for what it doesn’t address as what it does. France, Italy and Spain, where both the pandemic and government borrowing in Europe has been most intense, are struggling to persuade the rest of the bloc to share [the financial strain]( that their public spending will create. Rookie European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's efforts to take on the traditional role of power broker aren't helping either. Von der Leyen hadn't even read her officials' latest compromise proposal on the eve of the talks. Italian officials [are projecting that]( the country's government debt will be more than 150% of gross domestic product by the end of this year, way beyond the level [Greece was at]( when it triggered the sovereign debt crisis in 2009. Spain’s central bank sees public borrowing reaching 120% of GDP and France forecasts 115%. The EU has so far offered only a series of stop gaps to address that fundamental challenge – an emergency [bond-buying program]( from the European Central Bank and a range of low-interest borrowing options. [Band aids]( tend to come unstuck in the end. Perhaps that’s why the EU [so often seems]( to be in crisis. — [Ben Sills]( Members of the Italian military transport a coffin onto a military truck to be transported to a crematorium, near Bergamo, Italy, on March 31. Photographer: Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg Global Headlines [Too soon]( | U.S. President Donald Trump said he disagreed with the Georgia governor’s decision to begin relaxing social-distancing measures this week, a marked shift from his repeated calls for states to reopen their economies. - Click [here for more]( on how states are accelerating policy measures in two very different directions as Americans chafe under coronavirus lockdowns. - [And here]( to read about how mask-clad lawmakers plan to grant final passage today to a $484 billion economic rescue plan. [Biden and China]( | If presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is able to defeat Trump in November, U.S.-China relations — already at their worst in more than three decades — probably won’t improve. In fact, they could easily get worse. [Peter Martin]( and [Daniel Ten Kate]( explain why. - Click here for more on how the virus pandemic has [increased the percentage]( of voters undecided about both Trump and Biden. Heavy toll | More people are dying in Europe. While discrepancies in how nations report Covid-19 fatalities are obscuring the overall impact of the pandemic, total deaths have surged on the continent. Spain recorded almost 49,000 last month, the most for March since 1975, while the U.K. reported its biggest weekly tally in 20 years. Germany is the only large European country with no spike in deaths so far. - The [economic cost]( of the coronavirus on Europe’s 25 million small and medium businesses is clear in countless stories of owners fighting to keep their firms afloat. [Protectionist peril]( | Rice traders in Vietnam are being hit by a government measure to restrict shipments on concerns that global demand will spike as the coronavirus upends supply chains. While the world’s third-biggest exporter of the grain has since reopened some trade, hundreds of thousands of tons spoiling at the country’s ports show the dangers of curbing exports. [Progress in Africa]( | Four African countries that imposed the most stringent restrictions on the continent to fight the pandemic are showing early signs of progress. Lockdowns in South Africa, Uganda and Mauritius are mitigating the spread of the virus, while Ghana, the first in sub-Saharan Africa to ban travelers from high-risk countries, has already been able to ease its measures. What to Watch - The U.K. government will survey 20,000 households in a bid to [track the spread]( of the virus, five weeks after it abandoned a strategy of community testing for the disease. - Consumers in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, have been [“panic buying”]( food staples this week, causing some store shelves to empty, ahead of stricter coronavirus measures, according to NK News, a non-state agency located outside the country. Tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at [balancepower@bloomberg.net](bbg://screens/MSG%20balancepower%40bloomberg.net). [And finally](...Shanti Devi isn't on India’s list of 800 million people eligible for free food grains from the government during the pandemic, nor are her four children. “I have nothing to sell or mortgage — not even jewelry or an animal,” she said after losing work as a farm laborer. Rural unemployment in India has shot up above 20%, [Vrishti Beniwal]( reports, and about 400 million workers are at risk of falling deeper into poverty, as cases of suicide and starvation mount. A farmer carries a bundle of wheat while a harvesting a field by hand in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, India, on April 21. Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Politics newsletter Balance of Power. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022