Germany takes over EU presidency from Croatia in “difficult time” marked by pandemic
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Germany took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) from Croatia for the next six months in a “difficult time” determined by COVID-19, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech to the Bundestag (parliament) in Berlin on Wednesday.
“Of course, our presidency will be marked by the coronavirus pandemic, the efforts to contain it and to deal with its consequences,” said Merkel, stressing that the European Council had agreed that “special solutions are needed.”
The COVID-19 pandemic “affects us all,” said Merkel when presenting the program for Germany’s EU presidency in June.
Merkel warned that the positions of the member states of the EU were still “widely divergent.” Besides the COVID-19 crisis, the EU Council is looking at a number of serious challenges including Brexit, immigration as well as climate protection.
In her speech, Merkel stressed that there were other issues besides the coronavirus crisis.
“Over the next six months, we not only want to press ahead with crisis management, but also work intensively on how we can shape the key issues of climate protection, digital sovereignty and Europe’s role in the world in the future.”
Already in May, the European Commission has proposed a 750-billion-euro (844 billion U.S. dollars) aid package for Europe’s economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis. In this “decisive moment,” investments must be made “in a way that will benefit the next generation tomorrow,” said President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Merkel said that economic aid had to secure young people’s opportunities and promised to campaign for every young person to have the opportunity to find work.