EU leaders to battle over recovery plan at first face-to-face summit since pandemic

Brussels, July 17 (AFP/APP):  The leaders of the European Union held their first face-to-face summit in five months on Friday but the reunion seems unlikely to bridge their divide over a post-virus economic rescue plan.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel turned 66 on the day she and her 26 colleagues returned to Brussels, not to celebrate but to see whether in-person negotiations can answer a 750-billion-euro question.

Arriving at the European Council, where the leaders will meet with reduced teams and observe social distancing, France’s President Emmanuel Macron described it as a “moment of truth”.

“We are going through an unprecedented crisis, on the health but also the social level. We need much more solidarity and ambition,” he said.

Merkel and Macron are backing a recovery package made up of a mixture of loans and grants to member states to revive economies shattered by the virus and preventive lock downs.

“It’s our European project which is in play here,” he said, before meeting the Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte — who is holding out against doling out cash without tough conditions.

“Solidarity, yes, from countries that can now free up more in their own budgets to fight the crisis, towards countries that can do less,” Rutte said.

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