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Once again, the heads of government of the 27 EU countries debated the big issues in Brussels. On the issue of Brexit, they unanimously urged Prime Minister Johnson to give in. They lack unity in other areas of conflict.
By Matthias Reiche, ARD-Studio Brussels
The message from the summit is clear. He will stay at the negotiating table because a fair deal with Britain is still awaited, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of the first day of the summit. And that’s why London was asked to remain willing to commit.
Each side has “its red lines” in negotiating a trade agreement, he said. “We have asked Britain to remain willing to compromise in the sense of a deal. That, of course, includes that we too have to make compromises.” The EU summit agreed to continue negotiating a trade deal for a few more weeks. The heads of state and government also decided to prepare more intensively for a no-deal scenario. Macron had emphasized that his country was also prepared for this.
Improving climate targets?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to testify today. In September he threatened to break up negotiations if an agreement was not reached at this summit. In the evening, a stricter climate target for 2030 was discussed. The background to this is that the EU cannot achieve its goal of being climate neutral by 2050 with the above requirements, explains Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: “Spain, together with 10 other EU countries, it has issued a statement that we will meet our goal. improve again. “
The previous interim 2030 target of reducing CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 is simply not enough. The EU must lead the way in protecting the climate. “Logically, it would be very good if we agreed in December to reduce emissions by 55 percent by 2030.”
“We need results quickly”
Chancellor Merkel also supported this goal. Before that, he had sent a clear signal to the EU Parliament on another highly controversial issue. Its president, David Sassoli, had accused German negotiators of non-cooperation in relation to talks on the EU budget and the associated Corona aid fund.
Merkel made it clear that the most important thing for the German Council Presidency was “that we need results quickly.” Because the finances for the next seven years were closely related to the Next Generation Fund for Europe. “On the part of the European Council, we naturally want to make sure that we really have the results early next year,” Merkel said.
The pandemic picks up speed again
The comparatively calm course of this summit cannot hide the fact that the EU has numerous unsolved problems, to which the corona pandemic is now also gathering speed. That will also be a theme on the second day of the summit. The goal is to better coordinate the standards for testing obligations, quarantine rules, and infection tracking.
