Tuesday, 21 Apr 2020 07:29 AM MYT
EU leaders are to discuss the heated topic of jointly issued debt at a videoconference on Thursday. The idea around which a compromise may emerge involves the European Commission borrowing on the market against the security of the long-term EU budget and leveraging the money to achieve a bigger effect.
Merkel insisted that this act of solidarity would have to happen within the rules of existing European treaties, but repeated her mantra that Germany's well-being depended on the well-being of its European partners. In an effort to prepare a compromise deal ahead of the EU videoconference on Thursday, Merkel discussed the issue during a joint phone call on Monday evening with French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel, an EU diplomat said.
She even suggested that Germany was open to amendments to EU treaties if that would expedite measures to restore economies, but she warned that such a process would take too much time. Lucas Guttenberg, a political analyst from the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, said Merkel's statement was significant as it could help pave the way for a compromise deal among EU leaders during their videoconference on Thursday.