EU emergency summit lasts for four days

The EU summit, following which the leaders of the EU countries should discuss a package of assistance to restore the economy of the countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has been going on for four days. However, the parties cannot come to an agreement on many issues. Initially, the negotiations were supposed to be completed within two days.

It became known that Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland opposed Brussels' intentions to allocate 500 billion euros from a 750 billion package on the basis of a grant. This position caused a sharp discontent of the President of France: E. Macron said that the actions of these countries are «selfish», and France is ready to leave the summit in case of the prospect of signing a «bad agreement».

At the same time, the President of the European Council Charles Michel proposed to reduce the share of grants to 400 billion euros.

On the eve of the fourth day of the summit, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands noted some progress in the negotiations. Mark Rutte said that the head of the European Council is working on a new proposal to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic.

It's worth reminding, that the leaders of the EU countries have gathered to agree on a multi-year budget of more than 1 trillion euros, as well as a recovery plan, the size of which should be 750 billion euros.