European Leaders Meet for Second Day on Recovery Plan

 

European Council President Charles Michel meets leaders Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Giuseppe Conte, Pedro Sanchez and Mark Rutte on the second day of a summit to agree on a post-virus economic recovery plan. ––––––––– READ MORE: European Union leaders hunted for compromises Saturday on the second day of a summit to reach a deal on an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, with tensions running high among leaders weary after months of battling the pandemic in their countries. A full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached. The atmosphere "was grumpier" as the talks went on, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte said after Friday's marathon talks. "This is going to take a while, I think." The EU executive has proposed a 750-billion euro fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the most needy countries. That comes on top of the seven-year 1-trillion-euro EU budget that leaders were fighting over when COVID-19 slammed their continent. ––––––––– LINK: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/eu-leaders-resume-grumpy-summit-budget-virus-fund