BERLIN, April 10. /TASS/. Germany’s former federal chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder (he held the post in 1998-2005) has called upon Moscow, Washington, Beijing and Brussels to cooperate more rather than engage in conflicts amid the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"This pandemic is a challenge no country around the world will be able to cope with on its own," Schroeder warns. "Possibly, this world crisis will bring about a certain revision of the realities and the awareness that it is a problem that can be coped with only by presenting a joint front."

"Instead of confrontation in international relations we need greater cooperation. If Washington, Moscow, Beijing and Brussels fail to realize this, it will be a bad omen for our future," Schroeder stated. The way he sees it, in scale the current pandemic has much in common with the other global problems, such as climate change and famine.

Schroder is certain about the need for drafting a "common European debt instrument" to overcome the effects of the coronavirus crisis. "There may be some Eurobonds - common anti-crisis bonds issued only once, or some guarantees financed through the EU budget," Schroeder said. He recalled the "terrible economic and social effects" of the pandemic in Spain and Italy.

"If there is a country that should be aware of the need for providing pan-European support for the prompt elimination of this existential crisis, it is Germany," Schroeder said. He urged the German government to create a national agency for providing assistance to individuals and German businesses identical to the fund that emerged after the devastating floods of 2002. It would promptly provide financial resources without any red-tape or procrastinations for overcoming the effects of the natural calamity.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.