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The videoconference of EU heads of state and government on Thursday evening did not lead to any rapprochement in the budget dispute. After Hungary and Poland vetoed the EU budget on Monday, this issue was expected to dominate the evening. However, top politicians only talked about it for twenty minutes. So, as originally expected, they exchanged views on how to fight the pandemic.
After the conference, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that “millions of companies and European citizens” will wait for the budget and Crown aid. Prime Minister Charles Michel said that EU governments will continue the debate on the budget “to find a solution acceptable to all”: “We must remain united on this issue”.
Without the consent of all 27 countries, the EU’s approximate budget for the seven years from 2021 to 2027 cannot enter into force and aid from the planned Corona fund may not be disbursed: not even to Hungary or Poland, which have their veto He wants to force changes to the rule of law mechanism. This stipulates that EU funding can be reduced in the future if the rule of law does not work in the beneficiary countries. If there is no agreement in the coming weeks, the EU should work with an emergency budget from January onwards.
During the videoconference, however, only five speakers took the floor on the budget dispute – including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, as the representative of the Council Presidency, which changes every six months, must help find a compromise. An EU diplomat explained that the controversial dispute no longer took hold, saying that such a videoconference was not the appropriate format “to discuss such a complicated topic”.
The plenary of the heads of state and government should therefore address the issue again at the summit on 10 and 11 December. Especially since the group leaders of the European Parliament have announced that they will insist on their demand for a strong rule of law mechanism. Merkel said after the conference that she did not expect a quick deal.
Most of the evening at the summit was devoted to coordinating measures against the corona pandemic. According to the Chancellor, top EU politicians have talked about how to mutually recognize the results of rapid tests. In case of a different use of the test, however, care must be taken to ensure that the statistics between countries remain comparable. The willingness of governments to coordinate the measures that should be applied for Christmas and the beginning of the year is high, he added.
Merkel said she expected a corona vaccine to be approved in Europe in December or “very soon after the end of the year”. “And then of course the vaccination will start,” the Chancellor said.
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