EU leaders face the tough final stretch of a 2020 marked by the pandemic

Brussels, Dec 6 (EFE) .- Despite the coronavirus, the heads of State and Government of the European Union (EU) will hold a face-to-face summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday due to the difficulty of many issues to be discussed, such as the veto of Hungary and Poland to the European reconstruction plan, the response to the covid-19 pandemic or relations with Turkey.
The final stretch of 2020 is being tougher than expected for the EU, which with less than a month to the end of the year has not reached a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom for the post-Brexit era or unblock its billionaire plan of Recovery.
The two agreements should enter into force on January 1, 2021 and the Twenty-seven have not yet thrown in the towel, so both issues will predictably end up on the leaders’ table despite not being on the agenda.
VETO TO THE RECOVERY PLAN
Germany, which this semester presides over the Council of the EU, has not managed to convince Hungary and Poland to lift their veto on the EU’s multi-annual budget and the recovery fund, which will mobilize 1.8 trillion euros, for their refusal to condition these funds to respect the rule of law.
This past week, the European Commission confirmed that the fund could be launched without these countries and warned that a delay in budgets would lead to significant cuts in cohesion aid, of which they are major beneficiaries.
The notice seemed to make a dent in Poland, which suggested adding a statement clarifying how this mechanism will be applied as a possible solution, but a day later Hungary ruled out this option and Warsaw backed off claiming that they maintain the blockade.
The intention of the other partners continues to be to reach an agreement at 27 and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, was “optimistic” on Friday about the possibilities of solving it in the coming days.
If it does not happen before Thursday, the leaders could make one last attempt at the summit, considered the deadline since any agreement will also have to be approved by the European Parliament before it can be applied.
TURKEY
On the other hand, on the table will be the possibility of imposing sanctions on Turkey in response to the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Varosha neighborhood -in northern Cyprus- his statements in favor of the creation of two states on the island or the incident with a Turkish ship, in the framework of the European Operation Irini.
Michel said on Friday that “the evolution is not positive” and the EU has confirmed that the “unilateral acts” have continued, so that at the summit there will be a debate to consider “the first stages” of response.
Last October, the Heads of State and Government gave Ankara a two-month margin to ease the tension.
Also in the foreign relations chapter, the leaders will discuss for the first time the opportunity that opens the victory of president-elect Joe Biden in the US elections to boost the transatlantic relationship, deteriorated during the term of the current president, Donald Trump.
COOPERATION AGAINST CORONAVIRUS
The leaders of the Twenty-seven will also assess where their cooperation is in the face of the pandemic, in particular in terms of vaccination, recognition of tests to detect covid-19 or for the gradual withdrawal of restrictions due to the second wave.
This coordination work, which the leaders have addressed by videoconference several times in recent weeks, is especially important since it is expected that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will receive authorization in the EU in the coming weeks, allowing to start the campaigns of national vaccinations in early 2021.
Looking ahead to Christmas, the European Commission has recommended that countries not remove restrictions due to the risk of a new rebound, but some States call for joint actions, such as Germany, which advocates the closure of all ski resorts in the EU .
CLIMATE CRISIS
Climate change will also be on the menu at the summit, where country leaders are expected to indicate the extent to which they are willing to accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030, only a few dates after the UK has announced that it will limit its emissions by 68%.
The EU currently has a target cut of at least 40% compared to 1990 levels, but the European Commission has proposed raising that figure to 55% and the European Parliament has called for it to reach 60% .
The countries need to set their position so that the final negotiation between the three institutions begins to set that intermediate goal in 2030 with a view to decarbonizing the economy in 2050.
THE INCOGNITE OF BREXIT
The big question facing the meeting is whether an agreement will be reached to regulate the relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU once Brexit is definitively consumed at the end of 2020, with the finding that it has failed or with the negotiations still running.
Both parties agreed yesterday to make a new attempt, despite persistent differences in fisheries, competition and governance of the agreement. If they are successful, the treaty will have to be approved by the Twenty-Seven, though not necessarily at the leadership level, and by the British and European parliaments before entering into force.

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