A historic rescue plan for economies left shattered by the coronavirus epidemic was hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday as “the most important moment in the life of our Europe since the creation of the euro”.

The deal is a special victory for Macron, who came to office in 2017 committed to strengthening the European Union but has struggled to deliver.

“This is the most important moment in the life of our Europe since the creation of the euro,” in 2002, Macron said, adding that France itself would receive 40 billion euros.

The 750-billion-euro ($858-billion) deal was sealed in the early hours of Tuesday after intense negotiations that saw threats of walkouts, vetoes, and fierce opposition from the Netherlands and Austria.

“These were, of course, difficult negotiations in very difficult times for all Europeans,” said EU Council chief Charles Michel, whose job was to guide the tortuous talks over more than 90 hours.

Germany and France strongly backed the package, which enables joint borrowing by the 27 members of the bloc to help virus-hit countries, particularly Spain and Italy.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe had shown itself equal to “the greatest crisis” in EU history, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hailed “a Marshall Plan for Europe” that would boost his country’s economy by 140 billion euros over the next six years.

How will the debt be repaid?

However, there was criticism from MEPs, who broadly welcomed the deal but questioned the detail.

“The EU is now allowed to borrow funds but there is no certainty on how the debt will be repaid,” said a group of six MEPs who took part in the negotiations.

And teenage climate campaigner Greta Thunberg questioned whether the compromises were too great.

“As expected the #EUCO resulted in some nice words, some vague distant incomplete climate targets nearly impossible to track and a complete denial of the climate emergency,” she tweeted.

The initial call for solidarity was met with the fierce opposition from the “Frugals”, a group of northern nations led by the Netherlands that argued the package was unnecessary.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had warned before the talks against the EU becoming a “transfer union” with a permanent north-south movement of wealth.

Afterward, he defended himself from accusations that he had accepted precisely what he had sought to avoid.

“This is a one-off, there is a clear necessity for this given the excessive situation,” he told reporters.

The frugals were also apprehensive about sending money to southern countries that they see as too lax with public spending.

To meet their concerns, payouts from the package will come with important strings attached – a hard pill to swallow for Rome and Madrid who resisted anything resembling the harsh bailouts imposed on Greece, Portugal, or Ireland during the debt crisis.

The frugals were also enticed with heavy rebates on their EU contributions.

‘Rule of law’

The recovery package will complement the unprecedented monetary stimulus at the European Central Bank, which has largely succeeded in reassuring the financial markets despite a catastrophic recession in Europe.

ECB chief Christine Lagarde welcomed the accord, saying it “shows that when most needed, the EU steps up and comes together to help the people of Europe”.

Overall, the deal will dole out €390 billion in the form of grants to pandemic-hit countries.

That was lower than an original €500 billion proposal made by France and Germany. Another €360 billion will be disbursed in loans.

Spending must be devoted to policies seen as compatible with European priorities, including politically difficult economic reforms as well as the environment.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will be in charge of distributing the funds, with the 27 member states able to turn down a spending plan if a weighted majority of them decide to intervene.

The rescue package was agreed along with the EU’s long-term budget, bringing the agreed spending to €1.8 trillion through 2027.

The package now requires more technical negotiations among member states as well as ratification by the European Parliament, which will begin its scrutiny of the deal on Thursday.

Source: https://www.france24.com/en/20200721-eu-rescue-deal-the-most-important-moment-in-the-life-of-our-europe-says-macron

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Top EU officials struck a tough tone during talks on Monday, pressing China on its trade and investment relationship and warning of “very negative consequences” if it goes ahead with a proposed controversial security law for Hong Kong.

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen also accused China of leading a disinformation campaign around the coronavirus epidemic.

The EU chiefs spoke at a press conference, following the 22nd China-EU video summit held on Monday with China’s Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping, amid rising tensions and increasing mistrust between Brussels and Beijing.

Read more: EU-China summit: What really happened?

‘An unbalanced relationship’

“We continue to have an unbalanced trade and investment relationship,” said von der Leyen, adding that more ambition was needed on the Chinese side to conclude negotiations on an investment agreement.

Michel also called for a redress of the trade relationship, saying: “We made it clear that we need to resolve concrete problems.”

Negotiations over long-term market access for investment first began in 2014. As part of the investment agreement, the EU wants China to open up the market for foreign investors, ensure greater transparency, and offer fair terms for European companies.

Discussions, however, have fallen into a stalemate. EU officials have accused China of failing to make good on commitments it made last year linked to the deal.

A deal could still be possible this year if China makes concessions, said Michel. He called for intensified talks in the next few months.

Read more: EU calls for ‘open dialogue’ with China

Hong Kong, coronavirus disinformation

On Hong Kong, Michel said: “We expressed our grave concerns about the proposed national security law for Hong Kong.”

“We called on China to follow the promises made to the people of Hong Kong and the international community regarding Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and guaranteed freedoms.”

On coronavirus, Von der Leyen said: “We’ve seen cyberattacks on computing systems, on hospitals, and we know the origin of the cyber attacks.”

The stern message to China comes after the EU came under fire for defending its decision to consent to Chinese censorship of a letter co-written by EU ambassadors, ahead of its publication in Chinese media.

Cooperation outweighs competition, says China

No Chinese officials took part in the news conference.

Li said that cooperation with the European Union outweighs competition, reported China’s state-run TV China Central Television earlier on Monday.

China is willing to increase cooperation with the bloc on COVID-19 vaccine and treatment development to fight against the virus pandemic, Li said.

Beijing also hopes the EU could relax export control measures against China, he said, according to state TV China Central Television.

Last week, China’s ambassador to the EU had said the talks were an opportunity to make relations “more productive and substantive by seizing opportunities and addressing challenges.”

But he also criticized Brussels plans to apply tougher rules for heavily subsidized foreign companies, which would hit Chinese firms.

kmm, kp/stb (Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-chiefs-press-china-on-trade-hong-kong-security-law/a-53900044

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European Union leaders have agreed on who should next fill the bloc’s top positions following a marathon summit.

European Council President Donald Tusk announced the news Tuesday after hours of talks that exposed deepening divisions among member states.

“The European Council has agreed on the future leadership of the EU institutions,” he said on Twitter.

France’s Christine Lagarde has been proposed for the presidency of the European Central Bank, Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen for European Commission president, Belgium’s Charles Michel for European Council president and Spain’s Josep Borrell for EU foreign policy chief.

German defense minister Ms von der Leyen, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, would become the first female Commission president under the deal reached in Brussels, but must still be endorsed by the European Parliament.

Ms. Lagarde, currently head of the International Monetary Fund, would also be the first woman in her role, and she would serve for up to eight years if her nomination is endorsed.

Mr. Michel, Belgium’s liberal caretaker prime minister, would replace Mr. Tusk as the next chairman of EU leaders’ summits and be tasked with building compromises between the often fractious 28 member states.

He is the only one who can take up his post in November without other formalities.

Spain’s acting foreign minister, the socialist Josep Borrell, would be the EU’s new top diplomat in Brussels.

The four would help lead the EU’s policies in the next five years on everything from climate to migration to trade.

The nominations came after one of the longest summits in recent years, outstripping even all-night negotiations during the Greek debt crisis.

The fifth prominent EU role up for grabs is the president of the European Parliament, who will be announced in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/christine-lagarde-among-those-to-take-top-eu-jobs-after-marathon-summit-a4180811.html

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The European Union’s leaders have thrown their weight behind German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen to become the new president of the European Commission, a development that came after a marathon of contentious talks that saw Europe’s political heavyweights abandon the Spitzenkanindaten system that brought incumbent Commission head, Jean-Claude Juncker, to power in 2014.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel abstained from voting in order to avoid a political crisis. Her decision was influenced by the fact that the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany is split over Merkel’s decision remain on the sidelines during the voting process.

The European Council elected outgoing Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel to take over for Donald Tusk.

Europe’s leaders also agreed to nominate International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde to become the next president of the European Central Bank and Josep Borrell Fontelles to be in charge of the bloc’s foreign policy.

Source: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/eu-leaders-back-germanys-von-der-leyen-to-be-new-commission-president/

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Populists seize chance to put favorite issue on agenda ahead of EU vote, causing ructions among governments.

A previously obscure 34-page, jargon-filled document is causing political convulsions across Europe — even though it’s not even legally binding.

Italy this week became the latest in a string of European countries to say it would not sign the U.N.’s Global Compact on Migration at a ceremony in Marrakech in just under two weeks. From the Netherlands through Belgium and Germany to Slovakia, the pact has triggered infighting in ruling parties and governments, with at least one administration close to breaking point.

The fight over the pact illuminates how migration remains a combustible issue across the Continent, three years after the 2015 refugee crisis and with next May’s European Parliament election on the horizon. Far-right parties keen to make migration the key campaign issue have seized on the pact while some mainstream parties have sought to steal their thunder by turning against the agreement. Liberals and centrists, meanwhile, have found themselves on the defensive — arguing that the agreement poses no harm and migration is best handled through international cooperation.

Louise Arbour, the senior U.N. official overseeing the pact, said she is surprised by the controversy, as diplomats from 180 countries — including many that have now pulled out — signed off on the text last summer after two years of negotiations.

The initiative was launched at the request of Europe after the migration surge of 2015, Arbour said. The countries now having “second thoughts or misgivings” were very active during the negotiations and “extracted compromises from the others,” she told POLITICO in an interview.

Arbour, a former Canadian judge and U.N. human rights commissioner, said the recent backtracking illustrates a clear “disconnect” between some countries’ foreign policies “and domestic pressures or national concerns that were not included into the process.”

She stressed the compact is not binding and, after its formal adoption next month, “there is not a single member state that is obligated to do anything that it doesn’t want to.”

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, to give it its full name, sets out a “cooperative framework” for dealing with international migration. Signatories agree, for example, to limit the pressure on countries with many migrants and to promote the self-reliance of newcomers. The document states that no country can address migration alone, while also upholding “the sovereignty of States and their obligations under international law.”

That assurance has not been enough to placate many in Europe. Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has made anti-migrant policies his signature issue, pulled out while the pact was being negotiated. But the recent wave of European withdrawals was triggered by conservative Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who renounced the pact at the end of October.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (left), Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (center) and his coalition partner Heinz-Christian Strache (right) meet in Vienna to discuss immigration, July 2018 | Michael Gruber/Getty Images

Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, Kurz’s coalition partner, declared that “Austria must remain sovereign on migration” and said the country is “playing a leading role in Europe.” At least in terms of the pact, that turned out to be true with Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Croatia and Switzerland all following Vienna’s lead.

Bratislava, Berlin and beyond

Slovakia is among the most recent countries to withdraw its support for the pact. After an EU summit on Sunday, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said Bratislava would not support the pact “under any circumstances and will not agree with it.”

Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák on Thursday said he would resign after parliament decided to reject the pact. Lajčák was president of the U.N. General Assembly when the migration pact was adopted.

Populist parties in other countries have forced the pact to the top of the political agenda. The Dutch government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte has come under pressure from far-right leaders, including Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet, who refers to the agreement as the “U.N. Immigration Pact.” The government ordered a legal analysis of the text last week to ensure that signing it will not entail any legal consequences. The Cabinet finally decided on Thursday that it would support the pact, but would add an extra declaration, a so-called explanation of position, to prevent unintended legal consequences.

In Germany, the pact has become an issue in the battle to succeed Angela Merkel — the EU politician most associated with a more liberal approach to migration — as leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Two of the leading contenders for the post, Jens Spahn and Friedrich Merz, have both criticized the agreement and called for it to be amended.

The German chancellor mounted a spirited defense of the pact, telling the Bundestag last week that the agreement is in Germany’s national interest as it will encourage better conditions for refugees and migrants elsewhere in the world.

Arbour argued that although the pact is not legally binding, it is still worthwhile. “The pact is a major cooperation project … a political initiative to align initiatives for the common benefit,” she said.

But such arguments cut little ice with the WerteUnion (“Union of Values”), a group of thousands of conservative members of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party. It takes issue with multiple sections of the pact, such as a declaration that migrants “regardless of their status, can exercise their human rights through safe access to basic services.” The group argues that as German social benefits are high, such a commitment would encourage migrants to come to Germany.

Michel has been consulting with a handful of European countries to produce a joint statement to be attached to the pact | Leon Neal/Getty Images

In Belgium, the pact has put liberal Prime Minister Charles Michel’s coalition government at risk. The Flemish nationalist N-VA, the biggest party in government, has demanded Belgium withdraw from the agreement. Michel is caught between his commitment to the pact and his coalition partner’s rejection of it — while seeking to fend off a Francophone opposition that will take any opportunity to portray him as a puppet of the Flemish nationalists ahead of federal, regional and European elections next May.

Searching for a way to keep his government afloat, Michel has been consulting with a handful of European countries including Denmark, Estonia, the U.K. and Norway, to produce a joint statement to be attached to the pact, according to Belgian media. Another idea is for several of those countries to join the Netherlands in signing a common “explanation of position,” Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

Arbour said it’s too late to start making changes to the pact itself. Renegotiating the text or attaching an extra statement is “not what other [countries] have signed up to,” she said.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/migration-un-viktor-orban-sebastian-kurz-far-right-pressure-europe-retreats-from-pact/

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