A number of issues remain to be agreed upon. How big should the support package be? How much should be loans and grants? And what conditions should apply?

On Saturday evening, several bilateral talks were held where EU leaders met in small groups. In one picture, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was seen sitting with the President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel on the roof terrace of the European Building. Seemingly happy, but not satisfied. 

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in negotiations on the European corona package. Photo: Barend Leyts

The "sparse group" is growing

Sweden is one of the countries included in the so-called "sparse group". Together with the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark, they are pushing hard for the money to be paid for the corona pandemic as a loan instead of a grant. Finland also recently joined this stance.

To some extent, their desire has gone home, the grant part has decreased. But they think too little.

The Swedish government has also received slightly increased discounts on the EU fee, which is seen as a small partial victory.

Pause overnight

The negotiations were paused at midnight and according to well-informed government sources that SVT spoke to, a new proposal for the parties to take a position on will be presented by Charles Michel only on Sunday.

At the same time, it is rumored that the French president plans to leave the meeting in the morning, so whether there will be a decision or not is currently highly unclear.