EU leaders are trying to break a deadlock on a huge coronavirus rescue package as their summit stretched into a fourth day
An alliance of"frugals", led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, has been resisting calls for the bulk of funds to be doled out as non-repayable grants.
Tempers flared in the conference room on Monday as frustration boiled over after a full weekend of haggling, with French President Emmanuel Macron upbraiding the Dutch and Austrian leaders and threatening a walkout. In a speech over dinner, Michel reminded leaders of the devastating human cost of the pandemic – 600,000 dead including 200,000 in Europe – and urged them to come together to complete what he called a "mission impossible".
Macron, who along with Michel and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has worked to find a compromise deal, could not contain his impatience as the Frugals stuck to their guns over dinner. Often negotiating outdoors on a sundeck in the Europa summit centre in Brussels, the blue skies and fresh breeze had no impact on the mood. Undiplomatic terms like “hate" and “grumpy" have been thrown around between leaders during marathon negotiations that should have drawn everyone closer together to fight a historic recession in the bloc.
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