EU Leaders Meet for Third Day of Talks in Brussels
Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:40 amAs European Union leaders began a third day of talks in Brussels Sunday to try to agree on a massive coronavirus economic recovery plan and an unprecedented $2 trillion multi-year budget, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the summit of 27 leaders could still end without a deal.
“Whether there will be a solution, I still can’t say,” Merkel said upon arrival for the extra day of talks. “There is a lot of good will, but there are also a lot of positions. So, I will join in working for it. But there may also be no result today.”
Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and the summit host, European Council President Charles Michel, were poised to prepare a new offer to overcome the logjam after the scheduled two-day summit produced no results Saturday.
Merkel and Macron walked out of the heated talks late Saturday after the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his allies in the so-called "Frugal Five" — Austria, Finland, Denmark and Sweden — blocked an earlier proposed deal.
“They run off in a bad mood,” Rutte said in the early hours of Sunday. “The fact that we continue talking shows we all have optimism.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she speaks with France's President Emmanuel Macron, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven during a summit in Brussels, July 18, 2020.
The planned resumption of the summit at midday was delayed as different groups of countries met for talks on the sidelines.
The EU executive had proposed $857 billion for the coronavirus recovery fund, partly based on common borrowing, in the form of loans and grants to the most-needy countries.
FILE - Patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen in the intensive care unit at the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo, Italy, May 12, 2020.
That funding is in addition to the seven-year $1.1 trillion budget that leaders were fighting to approve when COVID-19 first slammed Europe with devastating consequences.
The 27-nation bloc's economy has contracted 8.3% this year, according to the latest statistics.
About 135,000 people from EU countries have died from COVID-19.