#euco In an attempt to break down Rutte's resistance, Charles Michel has tonight tabled proposal saying that decisions on payments from recovery fund would be halted if therr no "consensus" among governments. The dispute would be referred up to EU leaders
The draft states that if an unspecified number of member states have reasoned opposition to a national recovery plan, or the achievement of milestones as assesed by the commission, no payments can be made until the European Council "satisfactorily addressed the matter"
Key issue will be how many member states are needed to trigger this emergency brake. If it's just one, Rutte may be able to sell it as a veto of sorts. For affiocionados of European Council emergency brakes see this: eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossa….
Just like the tortured birth of the Ioninna Compromise, in practice Michel and commission will hope emergency brake over approving recovery plans and disbursements will never be used. But it is a way for Rutte to sell a deal at home
Next few hours will determine whether it flies or not. But one thing for certain, tonight will be the night for tortured annexes and mentions of #euco being "seized" on lots of matters TBD
With leaders back around table for dinner, Michel's idea for a 70/30 split over distributing recovery money seems to be gaining majority support. Before summit, lots of govs had complained the system introduces big uncertainty over how much € they will actually get. #euco
Final allocation split is likely to be 70% based on commission's allocation criteria with the remaining 30% based on extent of GDP falls in 2020 and 2021 (15% each). Michel had proposed using only 2021 but eastern states said this would punish them for having robust recoveries
In a rival proposal also circulated tonight, the Dutch have said that the brake should be triggered on the back of opposition from "a" member state (just 1) and payments should be halted until the #euco issue conclusions to resolve the dispute. This might be a long weekend ...
With Rutte fighting on governance, one quarter of the Frugals picks his fight over bringing down the total volume of the package 🍿 #euco
#euco ends at relatively civilised time. Leaders return at 11am. Summit took a while to get going but there is distinct feeling that ill-will and bad feeling among rival camps grew through the night. Diplomats now awaiting redrafted proposal for the morning as leaders sleep
A senior diplomat says outcome of the #euco weekend will depend almost entirely on where the Frugals go from here. They didn't show much leg tonight on governance or volumes. Without it, chances of redrafted proposal by tomorrow look slim
Now taking bets on whether or not #euco resumes at 11am.
Seemingly premature and tense end to #euco summit means even settled issues like allocation might be up for grabs again tomorrow. Southern countries in particular may want to put up fight as per 👇
Rutte leaves the summit admitting he has irritated some of his colleagues 👀 #euco
In Feb Merkel left MFF summit accusing Rutte of being "childish". Tonight Bulgaria's @BoykoBorissov said he was acting like the "police of Europe". Bad tempered night has left diplomats wondering how Charles Michel can salvage this. The FT's take on #euco: ft.com/content/52d642…
