EU official says 'big divide' between member states on recovery aid
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
“My hope is to make progress in June, July,” said the EU official, who is involved in preparing the leaders’ summit. But a final deal might take even longer, the official stressed. But the official said there was still “real reluctance” among several member states to back the Commission’s proposal. “There is this misunderstanding that the south wants to use the COVID crisis to put their old debt on the shoulders of the north,” the official said, referring to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
But, listing many remaining hurdles, the official said: “Political lines are moving ... but it will take time.” EU unity is being bitterly tested by the coronavirus, having already been damaged by the economic crisis that began more than a decade ago, a migration crisis since 2015 and then by Brexit.
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