Next six months will be crucial for EU, Commission president says

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The next six months under the German presidency of the European Union will be crucial for the bloc's future, the EU's chief executive said on Thursday, warning that delays on agreeing a recovery fund will cost jobs.

Ursula von der Leyen, speaking alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link, also said the pre-coronavirus problems have not gone away.

"We all know that the challenges from before the crisis will be the same after the crisis," von der Leyen said. "These are the major challenge of climate change, the digitalisation that we urgently need to push and the question of Europe's place in the world," she added.

(Reporting by John Chalmers, Philip Blenkinsop)