Angela Merkel Guides the E.U. to a Deal, However Imperfect
Steven Erlanger and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, The New York Times, 21.07.2020
Quotes
With her long experience as German chancellor, she shapes a necessary compromise on virus aid for the battered European south. But it's consensus at a cost.
After days and nights of rancorous haggling, European Union leaders reached an $857 billion pandemic recovery plan on Tuesday that, for the first time, committed them to borrow money collectively and distribute much of it as grants that do not need to be repaid by the countries hardest hit by the virus, like Italy. [...]
As Janis Emmanouilidis, director of Studies at the European Policy Centre, commented:
"The price of no deal would have been much higher — potentially incalculable both economically and politically at the E.U. and national level."
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