Enrique SerbetoSEGUIRCorresponsal in Brussels Updated: Save Send news by mail electrónicoTu name *
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Some have compared this summit with historic occasions such as the creation of the euro. They do not lack reason, because the euro operates from now 20 years and the economic recovery plan is going to gravitate in the form of debt over the life of the community in the next 30. European leaders spent yesterday, Saturday, the situation is virtually a stalemate and not in a good mood Friday, a day of work, “quiet, dense and intense” as described by a european diplomatic. Although nor came to an agreement and ended with a gesture of anger German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron against the so-called “frugal” (the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and now also Finland), the chairman of the Board Charles Michel decided that they will continue trying today.
throughout the day, there have been increased encounters, from two to five, in full, with the Commission, alone with the president of the Council, provided with a series of points invariants: the coordination between France and Germany has remained at the maximum level to guarantee the final amount from the recovery fund, as the perseverance of Holland in require a strict control of the conditions imposed upon the countries to receive such support, along with fierce resistance from Spain and Italy to participate.
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte had been clearly isolated in its attempt to force the application of the unanimity rule at the time of approving transfers of money to countries in need, as a guarantee that these would meet with their concrete commitments in the area of structural reforms. However, throughout the day opened up with a formula that some have dubbed as the “emergency brake on” and that would allow a country that has reservations about the reform plan presented by another state to open a discussion of the 27-day, either in the European Council or the Ecofin, the meeting of the ministers of economy of europe, to ensure that they correctly meet the opinions adopted by the Commission.
Spain would not object to this mechanism as it has rejected outright the possibility that what they had was a filter for unanimity because it would constitute a indisimulado right of veto of any government that wanted to prevent the arrival of the funds to another. At that point, diplomatic sources Spanish claim that the Dutch prime minister has been “completely alone”.
The case is that the subject of this “emergency brake” was last night being studied by the technicians of the Spanish delegation to see if they can end up being a ploy that, in fact, re-finish on the same principle of unanimity. This however is not the only issue that has been on the table throughout the day. Giuseppe Conte was complaining about to the middle of the afternoon that, despite all the good intentions, the conversations returned invariably to a dead point in the theme of the amounts, being “more complicated than expected”.
The last proposal of the president of the Council had a recovery fund of 750,000 million euros, of which 450,000 of them would be grants to the countries most affected by the effects of the pandemic of the Covid-19. The funds returned can be used with more discretion, but this mechanism assumes that almost all the amount that will be distributed in the form of subsidies, few 325.000 million, shall be invested in goals that meet the criteria of the European Commission. After dinner we had planned a meeting with the countries most reluctant, Finland included, and the little Merkel and Macron decided to leave ostensibly because they began to shuffle figures below the 400,000 million in grants.
Despite all of this, at the end of the session last night, German sources did a reading optimistic: “The deliberacione s come in an important moment. can Not tell yet if we will reach a result on Sunday, but it is worth to keep trying because there is a broad willingness of countries to reach an agreement.”
The optimism in the process of negotiations in Europe is something that is taken for granted. If the presidents were willing to spend a second night in Brussels and to continue to negotiate today is because they believe that in spite of all they want that there is agreement.
