The leaders of the European Union managed this Thursday to unblock the multi-year budget and the post-pandemic recovery plan and opened a path to the adoption of sanctions against Turkish citizens, on the first day of a summit that will also discuss the collective response to covid-19 and the state of post-Brexit negotiations.
The implementation of the budget and the recovery plan, which together total 1.8 trillion euros (2.1 trillion dollars), was blocked by Hungary and Poland who opposed a mechanism that links access to aid funds to the respect for the rule of law.
Thanks to an intensive diplomatic effort by Germany, the controversial conditionality mechanism will now be accompanied by an “explanatory” statement intended to respond to the concerns of Hungarians and Poles.
The announcement of the agreement was immediately celebrated by the president of the European Council (body that represents the governments of the member countries of the EU), the Belgian Charles Michel, who pointed out that “now we can start with the implementation and rebuild our economies” .
“Our recovery package will drive our ecological and digital transition,” the official noted on Twitter.
For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that “Europe is on the move! 1.8 trillion euros to support our recovery and build a more resilient, green and digital EU.”
“Common sense prevailed,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban noted on Facebook. In his opinion, this is not the time for “political and ideological debates that can keep us away from action.”
For his part, the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, celebrated on Facebook that “the conditionality mechanism has been limited to very precise criteria.”
– Pressure on Turkey –
Regarding Turkey, the leaders asked the High Representative (the head of diplomacy) to prepare a report in March 2021 on “the evolution of the situation” and to propose, if necessary, the extension of the sanctions regime.
“The idea is to gradually close the clamp,” a European diplomat told AFP.
According to a copy of the document approved by the leaders, and distributed by an EU source, the countries “invite” the European Council to “adopt additional lists” to the decision of November 11, 2019 on restrictive measures “for the actions of Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.
The document notes that Turkey “has engaged in unilateral actions and provocations, and has aggravated its rhetoric against the EU, against EU member countries and against leaders of the European Union.”
According to the text, the EU remains interested in developing a “mutually beneficial relationship” with Turkey, as long as that country “shows its willingness to promote a genuine partnership with the EU and its member states.”
Turkey, a NATO ally country and a perennial candidate to join the EU, has become a real headache for Brussels due to its activities in the territorial waters of Cyprus and Greece, in the eastern Mediterranean.
These hydrocarbon prospecting operations generated an alarming increase in tensions within the EU, to the point that several countries have demanded that it be given an example.
Turkey’s involvement in the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh has also lit the alarm lights in the EU.
– Brexit and climate change –
At dinner this Thursday, Von der Leyen planned to present to the heads of state and government an overview of the state of negotiations with the United Kingdom to define the post-Brexit relationship.
Von der Leyen held talks for three hours on Wednesday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and the two decided that the final decision in this endless saga will be taken on Sunday.
This same day, the Commission presented its emergency plan regarding fishing rights and the protection of air and land transport, given the possibility of not reaching an agreement with the United Kingdom.
European leaders should in principle agree more easily on the need for coordination in the face of covid-19 to avoid a third wave of infections and jointly organize future vaccination campaigns.
On the other hand, there is the always complicated question of climate change: the 27 must pronounce on Thursday on their new goal of greenhouse gas emissions for 2030.
The Commission’s proposal to reduce “at least 55%” compared to 1990, compared to a target of 40% currently, is not questioned, but its modalities are.
ahg / af
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