Leaders express optimism that a deal is in sight.
BRUSSELS — Weary European Union leaders expressed cautious optimism Monday that a deal was in sight on their fourth day of wrangling over an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund, following a weekend of walkouts, flaring tempers and insults.
It took an emotional dinner speech by European Council President Charles Michel about leaders not failing their union, French President Emmanuel Macron venting his deep frustration, and a new set of budget numbers to send the marathon summit onward.
“There were extremely tense moments. And there will be more that no doubt will still be difficult. But on content, things have moved forward,” said Macron, stressing his partnership with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Without Franco-German agreement, the EU has never taken momentous steps.
“An extraordinary situation demands extraordinary efforts,” Merkel said as the leaders pushed on with one of the bloc’s longest summits ever. What was planned as a two-day summit scheduled to end Saturday was forced into two extra days by deep ideological differences among the 27 leaders.
Overall, spirits seemed to have picked up since the talks hit rock bottom Sunday night.
“It looks more hopeful than when I thought during the night: ‘It’s over,’” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a target of criticism for keeping a compromise impossible.
Rutte, defending the cause of a group of five wealthy northern nations – the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark — sought to limit costs and impose strict reform guarantees on any rescue plan for needy nations.
