[ad_1]
Tighter climate target, budget deal, and new sanctions – In addition to a post-Brexit deal, the EU summit delivered. But after agreement is before implementation.
By Helga Schmidt, ARD-Studio Brussels
For Chancellor Angela Merkel, the stakes were high at the EU summit: the € 1.8 trillion package with aid for crown-weakened European economies, controversial measures against notorious violators of the rule of law, and defiance to protect the Union in times of global turmoil. stick together: all the tasks of the German Presidency of the Council. An overview of the most important results.
Climate target setting was successful – implementation continues
One of the notorious Brussels night sessions was again necessary to agree on a new climate target. The result divides the experts. 55 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to emissions in 1990; some speak of a historic advance. Environmental associations and many scientists, on the other hand, do not consider the reduction to be enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
According to the Paris Climate Agreement, all signatories must have improved their targets in the fight against global warming before the end of the year. The EU can now deliver on time, and with the 55 percent target, it will initially be able to meet all the requirements. The question of implementation, however, harbors great potential for conflict: how much each individual country has to achieve, who does more and who does less, will occupy multiple summits.
To achieve the objectives, the Brussels Commission is currently working on specific legal requirements. He’s already talking about a show of force: the share of renewables, for example, will increase by up to 40 percent. The necessary modernization of the energy supply will require, according to the Commission’s calculations, investments of 350,000 million euros per year. Money that must be added to the investments of the last decade as a plus.
Finance and the rule of law: lesson for Hungary and Poland
On the first day of the summit, the dispute over the 1.8 trillion financial package was resolved with help and budget from the crown. The money itself was not at all controversial: the two veto powers, Hungary and Poland, were also interested in participating in the largest economic stimulus program in the history of the EU. His ire was sparked by the rule of law mechanism and the requirement to punish countries with cuts in EU funding if they fail to abide by certain rules of the rule of law.
Chancellor Angela Merkel may regard the fact that Poland and Hungary finally abandoned their blockade as a success of her presidency in the Council. He had reached a compromise in individual negotiations with the governments of Budapest and Warsaw. It was made possible by an additional statement on the rule of law mechanism: according to this, Poland and Hungary are free to bring an action before the Court of Justice of the European Communities. However, the reduction in EU funding in the event of corruption and political influence in the judiciary will only be delayed, possibly only a few months; the rule of law mechanism itself will not be affected. It can take effect on January 1, 2021.
With the breakthrough at the Brussels summit, the € 750 billion Corona aid fund can flow and the budget for the next seven years is in place. A large part of the money will be used specifically for the ecological conversion of the economy. Digitization should also be promoted in Europe.
Light penalties against those who participate in natural gas exploration
For months Greece, Cyprus and France have been pushing for a tougher course against Turkey. They see the controversial gas explorations of Turkish ships in the eastern Mediterranean as a provocation. Furthermore, most EU countries see Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s aggressive foreign policy with his interference in conflicts from Libya to Azerbaijan as a threat to European security.
At the EU summit, however, they gave up tougher economic sanctions. Merkel, in particular, had repeatedly spoken out in favor of not allowing the threads of the negotiations to break after Ankara. “However, we will continue to shake hands with Turkey,” he said after the summit talks. We want to work on a constructive agenda ”. Therefore, additional sanctions were only imposed against those involved in the planning and execution of the controversial gas exploration in the Mediterranean.
Brexit: no one wants to be the first to announce failure
Although Brexit was not officially on the summit’s agenda, the dimmer prospects for an orderly exit from Britain were the subject of many face-to-face talks between heads of state and government. According to diplomatic circles, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, lowered her expectations after having dinner with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
At least that’s what Johnson agrees with. Meanwhile, he has asked his compatriots to prepare for a failure of negotiations with the EU, that is, for trade relations without an agreement. However, neither party wants to be the first to announce the “No Deal.” Negotiations on a post-Brexit deal will continue through Sunday.
