EU holds masked budget summit in pandemic times
BRUSSELS — Near the end of Friday’s opening summit day, European Union leaders acknowledged they were about as far apart from reaching a deal on an unprecedented $2.1 trillion EU budget and virus recovery fund as the seating distance imposed upon them for health reasons.
“The differences are still very, very big and so I can’t predict whether we will achieve a result this time,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “So I expect very, very difficult negotiations.”
After two full sessions, the leaders briefly broke up ahead of dinner to allow summit host and European Council President Charles Michel to work with individual nations to narrow down their sizable differences over who should give and get the money and under what conditions.
On a terrace at the top of the summit center overlooking the Belgian capital, Michel had talks with Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban — many of the opposing forces that could turn the summit into a failure by Saturday night.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that on several key issues, “I don’t have the agreement that we are getting close to an agreement.”
“I am not optimistic, but you never know. Nobody wants another meeting,” said Rutte at the start of the summit.
Macron underscored the importance of the challenge. “The coming hours will be absolutely decisive,” he said. “It is our project Europe that is at stake.”
The challenges facing the 27 EU leaders are formidable. The bloc is suffering the worst recession in its history and member states are fighting over who should pay the most to help other countries and which nations should get the most to turn around their battered economies.
As the summit got underway all leaders were wearing masks. The usual hugs, handshakes and kisses were replaced by friendly nods and elbow bumps. The jovial atmosphere was not expected to last long at what will likely be one of the most brutal and bruising summits of recent times. What is slated as a twoday meeting could go even longer, if necessary, to bridge the differences between leaders.
The urgency is such that the leaders have ended a string of coronavirus-enforced videoconference summits and are meeting in person for the first time since the pandemic began its devastating sweep around the globe.
The usual summit venue, an intimate room high up in the urn-shaped Europa center, was deemed too snug to be safe and instead the leaders have been sent down to meeting room EBS-5, whose 9,150 square feet normally fits 330 people.