European Union leaders concluded the third day of their summit in Brussels without agreement on a unified plan for economic recovery in the post-Corona pandemic, and will resume their meetings this afternoon.
The European Union leaders have intensified their continuous talks in Brussels since Friday, in the hope of avoiding the failure of negotiations on a plan adopted by France and Germany, whose value exceeds 1.8 trillion euros (about 2.06 trillion dollars).
The summit of European Union leaders aims to agree on an aid package to get Europe out of the worst recession since World War Two, but the progress of the talks indicates that the agreement is out of reach with continued differences on details between leaders, which threatens to postpone or reduce the package significantly.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, called Sunday evening, the leaders of the European Union not to show "a weak Europe", urging them to agree on the economic recovery plan.
Michel expressed his "desire" for the Europeans to reach an "agreement, and for the success of the European Union in an impossible task topped the European newspapers."
Macron angry and Merkel trying
A French diplomat said that President Emmanuel Macron protested the intransigence of some of his counterparts, and said that Macron attacked countries that adopt a very conservative approach to the economic recovery plan, namely the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria in addition to Finland.
The French diplomat reported that Macron "hit his hand on the table" at the European summit, and said that he was "cruel about their contradictions", but the chancellor expressed regret that what Macron had done "was narrated in a somewhat caricature" by some delegations.
For its part, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that the agreement of the European Union leaders on an ambitious financial aid package for the bloc is better than reaching a quick agreement at any cost.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed that the escalating disagreement over the level of spending may be insurmountable.
Controversy arises over the size of the new recovery fund and the percentage of grants and loans, as some of the wealthiest countries, led by the Netherlands, seek to restrict this, highlighting the depth of the division between the north and south of the European Union.
Separately, the summit faces difficulties in agreeing cuts in the EU budget for richer countries, as well as disagreement over a proposed new mechanism that may freeze EU funding for countries that violate democratic principles.