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Billion-dollar poker in Brussels: Merkel and Macron are now working together - Kurz speaks out

2020-02-21T16:15:14.267Z


EU finances are being negotiated in Brussels - a tough struggle between net payers and Southern and Eastern Europeans. Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron now want to work together.


EU finances are being negotiated in Brussels - a tough struggle between net payers and Southern and Eastern Europeans. Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron now want to work together.

  • At an EU summit in Brussels in February, the future funding of the EU is disputed.
  • Pessimism reigned on the second day: net payers like Germany and southern and eastern Europeans are struggling to find a compromise.
  • At least Angela Merkel and her French colleague Emmanuel Macron have now found a common position.

Brussels - Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her EU colleagues spent hours on Friday exploring chances of compromise in the billion dollar poker game for financing the European Union . Movement began to appear on the second day of the special summit in Brussels - hours earlier, there was still gloomy pessimism.

However, diplomats did not yet want to predict the success. Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) expressed himself cautiously optimistic in the afternoon. "My impression is that there is now movement in the right direction," said Kurz. “We are here to find a solution. I still believe that this is possible. ”He is expecting a new proposal from EU Council leader Charles Michel for the EU's multiannual financial framework . This then had to be studied and discussed. "And hopefully this will lead to a solution at the end of the day."

EU Finance Summit: More than a trillion euros is at stake

The negotiations are about the budgetary framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - and again for more than a trillion euros . EU funds benefit millions of farmers, municipalities, companies or students, including in Germany. However, the EU countries disagreed both in terms of payments and in terms of spending priorities. A solution is particularly difficult this time because after the Brexit, the British contributions of billions are missing.

EU Council leader Charles Michel went to the summit on Thursday with a compromise proposal, which was rejected by Merkel and other participants. Michel then sought compromise lines throughout the night in one-on-one discussions with the 27 EU countries , but without any discernible movement.

EU summit: new movement after Merkel and Macron push?

According to diplomats, momentum then emerged after Merkel - who had recently been qualified as a "lame duck" in the international press - and French President Emmanuel Macron, along with the other net payers, staked out a common position. Michel then had new calculations made for a compromise package.

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EU budget summit: Angela Merkel (CDU) and Emmanuel Macron are now apparently working on a common solution.

© dpa / Olivier Matthys

Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria actually don't want to pay more than 1.0 percent of their economic output and also insist on premium discounts . They are all net contributors , i.e. EU countries, who pay more into the community coffers than they get out. Michel has suggested 1.074 percent.

The fact that the five countries brought France on board was considered progress. Because Macron had come to Brussels with different priorities. He pushed himself against overly strict budget restrictions because he wanted to avert cuts in subsidies for his farmers . He had particularly emphasized this point on Thursday. The budget also plays a major role in the implementation of Ursula von der Leyen's “Green Deal”.

EU finances: Council chief accommodates Orban - and is criticized by Merkel

EU countries in the east and south also want a higher overall framework for the same reason. You get a lot from the structural aid to promote poor regions, the so-called Cohesion Fund . Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter that funds for agriculture and regional support are important to him.

Another point of contention is linked to this aid: In future, it should be linked to the rule of law in the recipient countries. Councilor Michel had somewhat mitigated the mechanism provided for this and had thus accommodated the potentially affected countries of Poland and Hungary . This also met with criticism from Merkel.

EU: Tough struggle with Eastern European countries - Prime Minister of Luxembourg "is not in the mood for now"

Because of the extremely complicated situation, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had expressed very pessimistic on Friday morning. Another summit in March will likely be needed to reach a compromise between the 27 Member States. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis made a similar statement: "Most of us are not very optimistic." Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis blamed the net contributors. "If these countries don't move, we'll hopefully fly back today."

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel , whose country is also one of the net contributors, was particularly disappointed: "I am not in the mood now that we have to calculate how much I am paying here and how much I should pay back," he said. "I am willing to pay more for this European project."

Even if the EU countries agree, a compromise with the European Parliament is still necessary. That demands a lot more money - namely 1.3 percent of economic output and threatens to be vetoed. Council President Charles Michel had already warned before the summit that there was "a lot at stake": "Our prosperity, our quality of life and the future of the coming generations."

dpa / fn

Rubric list image: © AFP / LUDOVIC MARIN

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-02-21

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