Hungary and Poland lifted the veto. The president of the European Council Charles Michel and the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced it immediately on Twitter: there is an agreement on the next EU budget and on Next generation EU. Now we can start with implementation and rebuild our economies, writes Michel, 1.8 trillion to fuel our recovery and build a more resilient, green and digital EU, remembers von der Leyen, who congratulates the German presidency, as well as made the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.
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Angela Merkel not on Twitter and does not twitter. But the German Chancellor is the real architect of the compromise: his mediation with the Hungarian premier Victor Orbn and the Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki has unlocked the situation. And the Chancellor, supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, also deserves credit for the green light in July for the largest aid package in the history of the EU. Before entering the summit he admitted: We have worked very hard to respond to the concerns of Hungary and Poland and at the same time to preserve the rule of law mechanism. So yesterday finally at the beginning of the evening the European Council – which continued until late at night in an attempt to find the square on sanctions against Turkey and climate targets – approved the 2021-2027 Union budget, to which the Recovery fund, held in hostage by Hungary and Poland because they are against the agreement reached between the Council and the EU Parliament on the link between the disbursement of European funds and respect for the rule of law. In exchange, the mechanism was actually allowed to go into operation at least a year and a half late (when voting in Hungary), but its principles have not been called into question and will be applied retroactively from January 2021. Enough for let Orbn and Morawiecki talk about victory. At the beginning of the summit, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte asked for an opinion from the Council’s legal service, which will be published after the summit.
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The green light is fundamental for our country as premier Conte underlined in a tweet: This means being able to unlock the huge resources destined for Italy: 209 billion. And satisfaction was expressed by the Minister for European Affairs Amendola, who will meet the Commission today, by the leader of the Pd Zingaretti and by the M5S. But the agreement also represents a turning point for the EU. A historic European recovery plan for the French president Macron.
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The compromise is an interpretative declaration of the rules of the rule of law mechanism which will be attached to the package agreement complexvO. The Commission will formulate guidelines for the application of the regulation but, if an appeal is lodged, the guidelines will be finalized after the judgment of the Court of Justice (and this will lengthen the time). Furthermore, the regulation will be applied in full respect of national identities.
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Next week the EU Parliament will vote in plenary the budget package. Now the procedure for the ratification by the national parliaments of the new own resources that will feed the budget can also start.
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