EU leaders wrangle over COVID-19 recovery fund
Jerome Hughes
Press TV, Brussels
In the EU’s de facto capital, Brussels, signs of the new recession can be seen on many streets.
Businesses have been forced to close and the picture is similar across the 27 countries that make up the bloc.
At a summit due to take place next week, EU leaders are being urged to agree on the terms of the bloc's budget, to run until 2027, and also a €750-billion pandemic recovery package.
Austria, Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden don't like the plan to give €500 billion out in the form of grants. The countries worst hit by the pandemic such as Italy, Spain and Portugal would benefit the most from this. EU powerhouse, Germany, insists the funding is essential.
Unless EU leaders address the potentially devastating social crisis, currently looming over the bloc, citizens will turn their backs on the political establishment and the EU will definitely not have a future. That is according to workers' unions.
It appears the incoming president of the Eurogroup, the body made up of finance ministers from the 19-country eurozone, acknowledges the importance of social justice.
EU countries have spent billions of euro trying to save jobs while people were laid off due to COVID-19. In reality most nations, on paper, cannot afford to do this due to huge government debt.
Economists warn the money is running out fast, hence the need for agreement on additional funding when EU leaders meet here next Friday.
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