He continued a war of words with EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen via the pages of an Italian newspaper on Friday.

“Dear Ursula,” he wrote in a letter to La Repubblica, “I hear ideas (from you) not worthy of Europe. The decisions we make today will be remembered for years.”

READ ALSO: Coronavirus: The financial help available in Italy and how to claim it

His words were in response to a letter from von der Leyen in the same paper on Thursday, where she had promised more support for Italy.

Conte wants the whole bloc to share the financial burden of fighting the outbreak by issuing billions of euros in so-called “coronabonds”, helping Italy to borrow more cheaply to fight the pandemic that has killed nearly 14,000 people and shattered the country's economy.

Von der Leyen has sided with Germany and some other northern European countries, who argue that pooled risk could raise their borrowing costs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Photo: AFP

She prefers an EU-wide guarantee that could raise 100 billion euros ($108 billion) for the specific purpose of helping national unemployment schemes.

Conte said he “welcomed” the EU's initiative but made it clear that he still wanted the coronabonds.

“When fighting a war, you must do everything possible to win and equip yourself with all the tools needed for the reconstruction,” Conte wrote.

This required “innovative tools such as the European Recovery Bonds”.

He said the bonds were “useful to finance the extraordinary efforts that Europe will have to put in place” and “are in no way aimed at sharing the debt that each of our countries has inherited from the past”.

'Nothing ruled out'

EU leaders failed to find a common response last week and gave their finance ministers until next Thursday to agree on something useful.

Von der Leyen's Latvian deputy Valdis Dombrovskis told La Repubblica newspaper Friday that nothing was being ruled out.

“We are open to every option,” Dombrovskis wrote. “We need an ambitious, coordinated and effective response.”

Italy's toll from the new disease reached 13,915 on Thursday, more than any other country.

Its current lockdown to stop the spread has been extended through mid-April, and at least some measures are expected to continue beyond that.

With most businesses shut down, Italy's economy is expected to suffer its biggest shock since World War II.

While the nationwide lockdown measures imposed on March 12th seem to be helping to contain the outbreak, this has also caused serious economic problems for a country where poverty was already rife.

Conte is preparing a new economic response package after pledging 25 billion euros in assistance to affected families and businesses last month.

His proposals reportedly include guaranteed loans that could theoretically deliver up to 500 billion euros to struggling companies and households.

This would expand the 340 billion euros in guarantees announced last month.