Leaders of the 27 EU member states will meet in Brussels on 17 July

According to EURACTIV, the leaders of the 27 EU member states will meet in Brussels on July 17, their first physical summit since the coronavirus lockdown began, to discuss an economic recovery package and the EU’s next seven-year budget.

The two-day meeting — which will unusually run into a Saturday — was confirmed by a spokesman for European Council president and summit host Charles Michel, while capitals wrangle over the terms of the huge rescue plan.

The leaders will devote the talks to the 750-billion-euro ($842-billion) recovery roadmap put forward by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The proposed package consists of 500 billion euros in grants — a suggestion of France and Germany — and 250 billion euros in loans, to help businesses recover from an unprecedented crunch.

The proposal would be based on EU borrowing over four years and requires unanimous approval from the EU 27.

A group of countries, a so-called “Frugal Four”, are trying to rein in spending, which is earmarked mainly for the poorer countries of southern Europe hardest hit by the COVID-19 epidemic.

 The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden, the so-called ‘Frugal Four’, insist that loans with tough conditions attached, rather than grants, should be the prefered method of rescue and are not in a rush to make a deal.

Other countries argue that the commission’s plan misallocates the money, giving too much to eastern Europeans who were never on the front lines of the pandemic.

Complicating matters still further, the recovery fund is linked to the EU’s long-term, seven-year budget, which leaders will negotiate in parallel.