EU hands out first payments from COVID-19 war chest

BRUSSELS - The European Union on Monday handed out the first cash from its huge COVID-19 recovery fund, in the form of grants to create jobs and support businesses in economies ravaged by the pandemic.

The EU's 27 countries are all in line to get money from a fund worth 800 billion euros ($954.32 billion) in grants and loans, which is financed by debt raised by the European Commission on behalf of member states. The Commission, the EU's executive, said on Monday it had disbursed the first cash from the fund - 800 million euros in grants to 16 EU countries, among them France, Germany, Denmark, Estonia and the Czech Republic.