Updated 1827
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that a final decision will not be reached today. A face-to-face meeting is required to reach a final solution. The UK Times reports that a senior EU diplomat said that “these are huge negotiations, unprecedented for decades and it is impossible to do by video conference. European compromises need eyeball-to-eyeball contact”.
Updated 1530
Council spokesperson Barend Leyts confirmed the summit was underway. Commission and ECB Presidents Von der Leyen and Lagarde were involved in the discussions.
Fourth #EUCO videoconference of @eucopresident on #COVID19 has started now with exchange of views with @EP_President #EU27 leaders are joined by @vonderleyen @Lagarde and @mariofcenteno and @JosepBorrellF
Stay tuned for more pic.twitter.com/QhoUli99Sw
— Barend Leyts (@BarendLeyts) April 23, 2020
Updated 1522
Today’s Summit is unlikely to result in a final decision on the size of a planned coroanvirus recovery fund. Angela Merkel made this strong declaration to the German Parliament, the Bundestag, earlier today. “A European economic recovery plan could support the necessary recovery over the next two years. Our discussions today will not yet be about determining the details or deciding on the scope.”
This afternoon EU leaders are expected to take crucial decisions on the EU’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. It will be the fourth video meeting between the nations’ top politicians.
In his letter issued on 21 April, President Michel invited EU leaders to discuss joint action to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. He presented a joint roadmap for recovery, prepared together with President von der Leyen. The roadmap focuses on the single market, massive investment efforts, EU global action and on better governance and resilience.
While it is largely expected that the EU borrows money from the market and pours it into the EU budget, the big dilemma remains on the distribution method: while northern and financially stronger economies generally favoured issuing loans, the Southern, indebited nations such as Italy and Spain are pushing for grants. A combination of the two would be a likely conclusion. What is certain, is that much of Europe’s – and the EU’s – future is at stake today.
Spain puts 1.5 trillion euro proposal on table
Euractiv.com this morning quotes a source close to an EU institution in the sense that “the idea of having a special instrument to deal with the crisis is beginning to be consensual. One way or the other, we need an instrument to respond to the crisis”. The same report indicates that currently the most concrete proposal on the table comes from Spain. Madrid’s Government has circulated a proposal for the establishment of a €1.5 trillion fund based on grants to be financed through new EU debt instruments.
EU Finance Ministers have so far approved a €540 billion package, a significant amount, but significantly less than the Spanish proposal. Positively, Germany’s Angela Merkel has signalled Germany is ready to go beyond this number, but the idea of debt mutualisation, implying that all countries would be responsible for a common debt pool, would be difficult to agree too.
The Joint Statement of the Members of the European Council adopted on 26 March called for a coordinated exit strategy, a comprehensive recovery plan and unprecedented investment and invited both the President of the European Council and the President of the Commission, in consultation with other institutions, especially the European Central Bank, to start work on a Roadmap to this end.
On the basis of this mandate, on 15 April the two Presidents presented, as a first step, a Joint European Roadmap towards lifting Covid-19 containment measures. The document
addresses the second part of the mandate, namely the need for a comprehensive recovery plan and unprecedented investment that will help us relaunch and transform European economies.
