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The videoconference of the EU heads of state and government on Thursday night did not bring any rapprochement on the budget dispute. After Hungary and Poland vetoed the EU budget on Monday, this issue was expected to dominate the night. However, the top politicians only talked about it for about twenty minutes. Then, as originally planned, they exchanged views on how to combat the pandemic.
After the conference, the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned that “millions of European companies and citizens” would wait for the budget and the help of the Crown. Council President Charles Michel said EU governments will continue the budget debate “to find a solution acceptable to all”: “We have to stick together on this issue.”
Without the consent of the 27 countries, the approximate EU budget for the seven years from 2021 to 2027 cannot come into force, and the planned Corona fund aid may not be able to be paid – not even to Hungary or Poland, which they have their veto. He wants to force changes in the mechanism of the rule of law. This stipulates that EU funding may be reduced in the future if the rule of law does not work in recipient countries. If there is no agreement in the coming weeks, the EU would have to work with an emergency budget from January.
During the video conference, however, only five speakers spoke on the budget dispute, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, as a representative of the Council Presidency, who changes every six months, must help find a compromise. An EU diplomat explained that the controversial dispute no longer took up space and said such a videoconference was not the appropriate format “to discuss such a complicated issue.”
Therefore, the plenary session of Heads of State and Government should revert to the matter at the December 10-11 summit. Especially since the group leaders of the EU 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 agreement.
Most of the night of the summit was spent coordinating measures against the corona pandemic. According to the chancellor, top EU politicians spoke about how they can mutually recognize rapid test results. However, in the case of a different test implementation, care must be taken to ensure that the statistics between countries remain comparable. The willingness of governments to coordinate the measures to be applied for Christmas and at the turn of the year is high, he added.
Merkel said she expected a corona vaccine to be approved in Europe in early December, or “very shortly after the turn of the year.” “And then, of course, the vaccination will begin,” the chancellor said.
