EU leaders now 'less divided' on budget, corona fund and loans

Over the past weekend, EU leaders were (still?) unable to reach a compromise to restart the European economy after the corona pandemic.

EU President Charles Michel has suspended the negotiations. He intends to continue on Monday afternoon at 4:00 PM and present a new compromise proposal. This latter development suggests that the differences are apparently bridgeable.

According to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the summit was very close to failure during the night. “At times it didn’t look good,” he said afterwards. There was a “moment when I thought: it’s over.”

The fact that the EU summit did not fail on the third (extra!) day of negotiations is seen as 'positive' by observers. And because now even a fourth negotiation day has been added, it creates the impression that a favorable outcome is still possible.

According to Rutte, the talks have progressed enough to continue negotiations. He is satisfied with the commitments regarding the economic reforms countries need to implement in order to qualify for subsidies and the monitoring of these. He believes a “slowly emerging consensus” is forming, and that the four obstructive countries appear to be making progress.

Also, regarding the choice between ‘grants’ or ‘loans,’ rapprochement seems possible. The initial proposal from EU President Michel called for two-thirds ‘grants’ and one-third ‘loans,’ but this now appears to be shifting to an even split. The first proposal still assumed 500 billion in subsidies. At that time, the Netherlands was not willing to consider subsidies at all.

An emotional appeal by Michel to the EU government leaders to overcome their disputes and accomplish “an impossible task” has, according to Prime Minister Rutte, helped. After the third day, Rutte said he saw more rather than less support for the ‘conditions’ of the ‘stingy four.’