Video conference of European affairs ministers, 15 July 2020

Main results

European Council preparations

Ministers prepared for the special meeting of the European Council on 17 and 18 July. EU leaders will seek to reach agreement on the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021‑2027 and the recovery plan to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Ahead of the meeting, European Council President Charles Michel presented his proposal for the MFF and the recovery package. Following bilateral discussions with EU leaders, he identified six 'building blocks' for a possible agreement, concerning the size of the MFF and the recovery plan, rebates, the balance between loans and grants, allocation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and governance and conditionality. President Michel proposed €1 074 billion to fulfil the long-term objectives of the EU, and to preserve the full capacity of the recovery plan proposed by the Commission (€750 billion).

Ministers exchanged views on the overall balance and political feasibility of the proposal, focusing on their main priorities ahead of the upcoming European Council meeting.

Time is pressing. The pandemic has hit our economies and societies hard and decisive action is needed. The debate today helped us take stock of where member states stand ahead of the crunch summit later this week. Even though there remain very difficult questions to solve, I hope it has contributed to the preparation of an agreement, which will allow the EU to emerge stronger from the crisis, addressing its immediate consequences, as well as our long-term priorities, such as the rule of law, social and economic convergence, climate protection and digital transformation. Michael Roth, Germany’s Minister of State for Europe

• Special European Council, 17-18 July 2020
• A recovery plan for Europe (background information)
• Long-term EU budget 2021-2027 (background information)

Priorities of the German presidency

The German presidency also presented its priorities for the next six months. The guiding principles of the presidency will be:

• overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic permanently, and economic recovery;
• a stronger and more innovative Europe;
• a fair Europe;
• a sustainable Europe;
• a Europe of security and common values;
• a strong Europe in the world.

In the area of general affairs, the presidency will focus its efforts on a rapid conclusion of the negotiations on the next MFF and the recovery plan, as well as the related sectoral programmes and instruments. It will play an active role to ensure that the negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom reach a successful outcome and engage in discussions with the other EU institutions on the Conference on the Future of Europe in order to be able to launch it as soon as the situation with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic allows.

Germany will also work inten­sively to promote a common, cooperative and constructive approach to dealing with the issue of the rule of law, tackle the issue of disinformation and draft the negotiating frame­works for the Republic of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia to prepare for the start of accession negotiations with these countries.

• Programme and focus areas of the German presidency