The European summit concluded after four days of talks brought the Franco-German couple back to life. The French President and the German Chancellor joined forces to convince the "frugal" countries to show more solidarity. At a joint press conference on Tuesday, July 21, in Brussels, they jointly greeted a "historic" agreement in the history of the construction of the European Union.

"The recovery plan based on this European solidarity is a historic change for our Europe and our euro zone. It is the first time that we are putting in place this common budgetary capacity, at this level", says Emmanuel Macron.

Without Germany and France together, "nothing is possible", explained the French president. "I am convinced that this plan, this budget are likely to respond to the health, economic and social challenges which are now before us in each of our countries, and that to decide not to respond to them would have been to decide to spend a lot in a few months or a few years, "continued the French president.

"Structuring a common solidarity"

"I have no heartache about this agreement," also said Emmanuel Macron, while France had to make concessions, especially on the amount of subsidies.

"We are in the process of structuring a common solidarity, of consolidating the euro as a true international currency", he also considered.

Angela Merkel said she was "very relieved" that after difficult negotiations, Europe has shown that it "can still act together". This is "an important signal that goes beyond Europe", "a response to the biggest crisis in the EU since its creation," she said.

With AFP and Reuters

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