Thread by @NaomiOhReally, Habemus papam! #EUCO "We did it. Europe is strong, Europe is united," [...]

Naomi O'Leary

NaomiOhReally

Habemus papam! #EUCO

"We did it. Europe is strong, Europe is united," declares an astonishingly energetic @eucopresident after a leaders pulled another all-nighter.
"These were of course difficult negotiations in difficult times for all European citizens, a marathon that ended in success for all 27"

"The overall volume of €750 billion has been kept, grants are a little bit less with €390 billion," says Angela Merkel. "That we needed so many days shows that we've come from different vantage points but what matters is we came together." #EUCO

"This recovery fund that is based on European solidarity is indeed a historic change, a historic step for Europe," says Emmanuel Macron. "It needed a spirit of compromise to make this happen and I want to thank all colleagues that have show this." #EUCO

Merkel notes there may be "very difficult discussions" with the European Parliament, which has threatened to veto a deal if budget was not increased.
"I hope that colleagues in the European Parliament have seen that we wrestled with each other to come up with a solution." #EUCO

The price of the deal: rebates -- pioneered by Britain and originally proposed to be scrapped after Brexit -- increased to the 'frugal' net payers Austria, Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden; Germany opted not to increase its existing rebate.

Cuts to clinch deal, compared to initial Commission proposals:
- Horizon 2020 [research] 13.5bln -> 5bln
- InvestEU [business investment incentives] 30bln -> 5.6bln
- Rural development 15bln -> 7.5bln
- Just Transition Fund [climate transition subsidies] 30bln -> 10bln

Here's a big one: EU4Health, a plan to create strategic medical stockpiles, a pan-EU medical response force, strengthen health systems and improve warning systems for epidemics, is largely axed.
€9.4bln -> 1.7bln
(Initial proposal is here https://ec.europa.eu/health/funding/eu4health_en)

Here is the conditionality on rule of law and proper expenditure NL pushed for & Hungary resisted. It's not a veto: qual majority in Council must approve Commission decisions to allocate funds. Member states can complain and trigger a Council discussion if they suspect violation

How is the goal of EU carbon neutrality by 2050 woven in?
Target of 30% of all EU spending must be for achieving climate goals.
There are €7.5bln in subsidies for climate transition. If member states do not commit to climate neutrality by 2050 they can only get half their share

As @tverellen points out the rule of law conditionality mentioned here relates only to the €750bln recovery funds https://twitter.com/NaomiOhReally/status/1285464199301345280?s=20
Below is the proposal for budget "the Commission will propose measures in case of breaches for adoption by the Council by qualified majority"

https://twitter.com/NaomiOhReally/status/1285464199301345280?s=20

By the way EU communications usually describe a thousand million as a billion. So my brain nearly overheated this morning trying to grapple with the way these figures are written

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