EU nations clinch $2.1T budget, virus aid deal after 4 days

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

EU nations clinch $2.1T budget, virus aid deal after 4 days

By RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN
July 21, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — Weary but relieved, European Union leaders finally clinched a deal on an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, somehow finding unity after four days and nights of fighting and wrangling over money and power in one of their longest summits ever.

With masks and hygienic gel everywhere at the summit, the 27 leaders were constantly reminded of the potent medical and economic threat the virus poses to their continent, and grudgingly committed to a costly, massive aid package for those hit hardest by COVID-19.

“Extraordinary events, and this is the pandemic that has reached us all, also require extraordinary new methods,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

To confront the biggest recession in its history, the EU will establish a 750 billion-euro coronavirus fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the hardest-hit countries. That comes on top of the seven-year, 1 trillion-euro EU budget that leaders had been haggling over for months even before the pandemic.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/303edfddebb054b0cc6c819d83b6c7b1

[OnDoutside]

1. This is the traditional EU negotiation....leave the hardest 5% to the

very last minute, to sort out.