BREAKING: During day 5 of the EU Council Summit, a coronavirus recovery fund deal was reached at 5:31 AM Brussels Time

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image showing BREAKING: During day 5 of the EU Council Summit, a coronavirus recovery fund deal was reached at 5:31 AM Brussels Time

delarussieavecamour on July 21st, 2020 at 04:33 UTC »

The text of the agreement

https://www.consilium.europa.eu//media/45109/210720-euco-final-conclusions-en.pdf

750 billion euros worth

390 billion of which is grants

This is in addition to the Union's MFF of 1.1 trillion euros over the course of the MFF

The Commission will borrow from the capital markets, a first if I'm not mistaken

New own resources will be introduced to finance the EU budget

The Union's financial interests shall be protected in accordance with the general principles embedded in the Union Treaties, in particular the values of Article 2 TEU*.

The European Council underlines the importance of the protection of the Union's financial interests. The European Council underlines the importance of the respect of the rule of law.

Based on this background, a regime of conditionality to protect the budget and Next Generation EU will be introduced. In this context, the Commission will propose measures in case of breaches for adoption by the Council by qualified majority.

*Article 2: The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.

Qualified majority means 55% of EU member states representing 65% of the Union's population

The recovery and resilience plans shall be assessed by the Commission within two months of the submission. The criteria of consistency with the country-specific recommendations, as well as strengthening the growth potential, job creation and economic and social resilience of the Member State shall need the highest score of the assessment. Effective contribution to the green and digital transition shall also be a prerequisite for a positive assessment.

The assessment of the recovery and resilience plans shall be approved by the Council, by qualified majority on a Commission proposal, through an implementing act which the Council shall endeavour to adopt within 4 weeks of the proposal.

The positive assessment of payment requests will be subject to the satisfactory fulfilment of the relevant milestones and targets.

ednorog on July 21st, 2020 at 06:18 UTC »

As a Bulgarian I feel pretty embarrassed by our role in this one. Our prime minister - whom we have been protesting against for 2 weeks now - is bragging all around how we got more money than last time even though the overall budget is lower. I can assure you that if nothing changes here, most of these funds will not be spent transparently but instead sink into a circle of businesses close to the government. It also feels pretty undeserved getting this money in view of the state of the rule of law here, which is virtually non-existent. So it feels like we're like some kind of happy beggars, graced by the undeserved kindness of rich EU nations.

Edit: I do appreciate the fact that EU leaders have been able to reach an agreement, though, it felt like a pretty tough fight.

TotallyNotWatching on July 21st, 2020 at 07:49 UTC »

Can someone tell me why Czech is getting 1.5 billion in regional development? It’s so much more than anyone else.