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During the first day of negotiations on Friday, the heads of state were unable to find a compromise on how to allocate 750 billion. that they are ready to rescue the economy in the wake of the coronavir crisis.
Diplomatic sources told BNS that the negotiations have stalled over the Dutch demand for a right for countries to veto the allocation of funds to other countries’ national programs.
Most other states would agree that the programs be approved by a qualified majority.
Half an hour after midnight Lithuanian time, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced a break until noon on Saturday.
The plan presented by the European Commission in May foresees € 750 billion. € 250 billion package. € 500 billion in loans and € 500 billion in grants that should not be repaid to recipient countries.
In May Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner delegated by Lithuania, announced that up to € 3.9 billion of the new fund would be offered to Lithuania. € 2.4 billion in grants and € 2.4 billion in euro loans
However, the final figures are likely to be different, and the new formula presented for the negotiations could lead to a reduction in the proportion of donations to Lithuania compared to the European Commission proposal.
The European Recovery Fund is separate from the EU budget of € 1 trillion for 2021-2027, on which a consensus will also be sought.
Following the stalled negotiations, no updated annual budget draft has been presented to leaders on Friday.
In it, the so-called cohesion support to Lithuania may decrease by about a quarter, as the indicators of the Lithuanian economy have come close to the EU average.
This decrease can be slightly reduced by compensating for the losses caused by emigration: according to President G. Nausėda, it would reach almost LTL 200 million for Lithuania. euros
Nausėda called the reserve “a kind of intermediate result,” but added that “it is an underestimate of what happened in the last decade, when Lithuania lost just over 10%.” its population. ‘
The president also vows to fight for faster growth in direct payments to the country’s farmers. Farmers in the Baltic countries currently receive the lowest direct payments in the EU, at around € 170 per hectare, compared to the EU average of more than € 250.
Upon arrival in Brussels, G. Nausėda stated that he would like to increase profits to € 196 next year.
Other important budget lines that will be closely monitored by Lithuanian negotiators are funding for the Königsberg transit scheme and the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, and money for the EU’s military mobility program.
The leaders also came to the negotiations without a common opinion on whether the allocation of funds should be linked to the country’s rule of law, a link that the Hungarian and Polish governments, which are in conflict with Brussels, are most opposed to.
This is the first meeting of EU leaders in Brussels since the pandemic – they have been speaking on conference calls for the past few months.
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