Leaders of the 27 EU countries reached a \u201chistoric\u201d deal on Tuesday morning, on a massive stimulus plan for the coronavirus-affected economies. The heads of state and government took almost five days of tough negotiations to reach this result. European Council President Charles Michel called the accord \u201ca pivotal moment\u201d for Europe, while French President Emmanuel Macron hailed it as \u201ctruly historic\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The subject of disagreement between the French-German group and the group of the so-called \u201cfrugal\u201c countries, less affected by the pandemic so less willing to participate in the general effort, the agreement paves the way for the European Commission to raise billions of euros on capital markets on behalf of all 27 states. Leaders hope the 750-billion-euro recovery fund and its related 1.1 trillion euro 2021-2027 budget will help the continent recover after the pandemic. Under the agreement, the Commission will borrow 750 billion euros using its triple-A debt rating, disbursing 390 billion in grants for the countries most affected by the pandemic, to be returned by all 27 EU members and 360 billion in cheap loans for the member states that request it, to be returned by each applicant country. According to President Klaus Iohannis, Romania will benefit almost 80 billion euros for European projects.<\/p>\n
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Klaus Iohannis: \u201dWe will use the 80 billion euros to upgrade infrastructure, to build hospitals and schools and to modernize the big public systems. It is also important to know that a substantial amount will be used for economic re-launch and recovery. I repeat, we will use 80 thousand million euros to put into practice, on the one hand, the plan for the 2021-2027 multi-annual budget, a plan that we have been working on with the government ever since January and will soon complete and start its implementation, and, on the other hand, for the national recovery plan that we have also been working on for some time. The latter will be presented to the European Commission in order to receive the funds for economic re-launch. So far we have prepared well and have obtained a good result. \u201d<\/p>\n
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This is an important day for the European project, an important day for Romania, which will go on, because this money must be used for the reconstruction of the country, President Klaus Iohannis has concluded. (Translated by Elena Enache)<\/em><\/p>\n
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