Iran Press/ Europe: Gathering in Brussels on Friday, European Union leaders in their first face-to-face summit in months tried to thrash out a post-Coronavirus economic recovery package.
The urgency of the crisis has caused the leaders of the 27-nation grouping to abandon a series of video conference summits in favor of looking at one another in the eyes — albeit from across a large room. They, however, were far from reaching an agreement on how the money should be handed out.
In the special European Council meeting, the Europian leaders agreed that a common response is needed.
According to a proposed plan by the Europian commission, it was supposed to a recovery fund totaling €750 billion to be considered. The plan also has backed a joint Franco-German motion that most of the money — €500 billion — be dished out as grants to the member states most economically impacted by the pandemic.
There is also the trillion-euro EU budget, also known as the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) at stake.
Meanwhile, EU leaders must also find common ground on the bloc's next seven-year budget — known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which EU Council leader Charles Michel wants to amount to just under €1.1 trillion. 207
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