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French President Emanuel Macron “slammed his fist on the table” in anger during crunch overnight talks on the EU coronavirus recovery fund, French officials told CNN.
The officials said there had been a “tough moment last night” as European leaders struggle to reach an agreement on the recovery plan after three days of talks.
The bloc’s members have so far failed to reach a deal.
At the center of discussions is a proposal put forward by the European Commission in May. That plan would see the Commission raise €750 billion ($857 billion) on financial markets, alongside the regular EU budget for 2021-27.
Under that plan, two-thirds of the recovery funds would be distributed to countries via grants, while the remainder would be offered as loans.
But Austria, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden — the so-called “frugal” countries – opposed the idea of issuing grants and now want strict conditions attached to them.
France and Germany have worked together to “mobilize their partners for an agreement” French officials said, with Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel doing “everything to bring the most reluctant countries to agree to €400 billion ($450bn) [in subsidies].”
The officials claimed that after the Franco-German intervention the “frugal” countries started to “budge slightly,” and that there was now an avenue open for a possible agreement.
A short plenary session was held at 5:30 a.m. local time in Brussels (11:30 p.m. ET Sunday) and a new proposal will be presented at 4 p.m. in Belgium (10 a.m. ET) on Monday, French officials said.
