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The European Council session in the Belgian capital will take place from Friday morning. After a half-day consultation in narrower formats, the executives sat down at the table again on Saturday at 10 p.m. Lithuanian time, BNS reported diplomatic sources.
At the heart of the dispute is the Dutch-led group’s demand from “thrifty” countries for stringent conditions for the distribution of borrowed funds in the markets of southern European countries.
There is also a trillion euros of EU budget for 2021-2027 at the negotiating table.
The Lithuanian delegation, led by President Gitanas Nausėda, in the new budget seeks to preserve as many funds as possible from the so-called cohesion funds, which support the poorest European regions, and accelerate the growth of direct payments to farmers Lithuanians.
The priorities have remained the same for many years, but the coronavirus crisis has fundamentally changed the situation.
At the beginning of the year, Lithuanians turned to the negotiations, sounding the alarm bells about the country’s economic turmoil, as European support for Lithuania could drop by around a quarter as the economy approached the EU average. .
The decision to establish 750 billion separately G. Nausėda was already in negotiations for this weekend, as he was almost certain that total support for Lithuania would increase, not decrease.
According to some unofficial diplomatic calculations, the package of all subsidies in the new financial perspective for Lithuania may increase by about two billion euros.
According to sources, the agenda for Saturday’s dinner includes a debate on what the new fund should provide as non-repayable support and what part of the loans it will consist of.
The leaders are also trying to find a compromise on how decisions on the distribution of money will be made: the Dutch demand the possibility of vetoing national programs, but the countries of southern Europe disagree.
There is also controversy over the desire of Western Europeans to suspend funding if countries violate the rule of law, with Hungary and Poland being the main opponents.
“The same issues are the relationship between grants and loans, the government and the rule of law,” said an official who reported the talks to BNS on Saturday night.
In line with standard tactics, additional concessions are often offered to member states in the final stage of negotiations so that leaders can return home as winners and have arguments to convince their parliaments.
The Lithuanian delegation received its first “gifts” at noon on Saturday, when the updated budget offered an additional € 125 million in support of agriculture as partial compensation for lower direct payments to farmers.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also proposed between 139 and 189 million. to increase funding for the so-called Special Transit Scheme, which is used by Russian citizens traveling through Lithuania between the main part of Russia and the Königsberg region.
Seeing these figures, Lithuanian President G. Nausėda stated that the proposal was more favorable than the previous one, but still insufficient: he promised to try to “improve” it further and guarantee greater cohesion support and a faster increase in direct payments. to farmers.
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