French President Emmanuel Macron “ slapped his fist on the table ” Sunday July 19 at the European summit in Brussels, devoted to the economic recovery plan, to denounce the bad will of some of his counterparts.
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In his sights: the so-called “ frugal ” states (Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Austria), as well as Finland, which are very reserved on this level. " He was hard on their inconsistencies, " said a member of the French delegation. The French president's outings were reported by other delegations to the media, who reveled in the episode. “ All of this was told in a somewhat caricatured manner, ” however lamented the adviser.
Emmanuel Macron criticized the opposition to his request to allocate a significant part of the sums of the recovery plan, raised by a joint loan from the EU, in the form of subsidies to the member states. He also castigated the behavior of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz when the latter stood up and left the table to take a phone call. According to a European source, the Austrian felt " offended " by the remark.
" He punched the table "
Emmanuel Macron also compared the positioning of Dutch opposition leader Mark Rutte with that of former British Prime Minister David Cameron during the negotiations. According to the confidences of other delegations, the French president would have lost his temper on several occasions during his criticisms.
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According to a European source, he said that it was France and Germany who were going to " pay for this plan " and " that they fight for the interest of Europe when the frugal are selfish and make no concessions " " He added that he was ready to go rather than have a bad deal, " said the same source.
The frugal want to limit aid
Discussions have been deadlocked for three days on the distribution of funds. The recovery plan initially provided for 500 billion in subsidies - including 325 billion directly allocated to governments to finance their national plans - and a possibility of loans for 250 billion. But the frugal and Finland want to limit aid to 350 billion.
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This amount is considered unacceptable for Paris and Berlin, ready to go down to 400 billion, which is too high for the refractory states, AFP learned from the delegations. Dinner has been suspended and meetings are being held to try to break the deadlock. The frugals met to coordinate their position, announced the Austrian chancellor on his Twitter account with a photo of the meeting.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, received several of the protagonists to try to find a compromise. The summit entered its fourth day on Monday, and discussions will resume at 4 p.m.