STA, 19 July 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša described the EU summit negotiations that are currently underway in Brussels as a test of perseverance on his Twitter on Saturday evening as the second day of EU leaders' talks on the next EU budget and recovery package wrapped up. He also deemed on Sunday the third day of the negotiations a day of truth.
"The EU is once again demonstrating the entire complexities of its differences, its smallness and greatness, selfishness and solidarity," Janša wrote in his Saturday's post, adding that for some the EU was granted by their fathers, whereas the others won it out.
Drugi dan poskusov za dosego dogovora o proračunu in skladu za okrevanje. #EU se ponovno kaže v vsej svoji kompleksnosti razlik, majhnostih in veličinah, sebičnostih in solidarnosti. Za nekatere dana od očetov, za druge pribojevana. Test vztrajnosti. #MFF #RF #EUCO pic.twitter.com/wV8vvWGwGw
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) July 18, 2020
In the early hours of Sunday he also wrote that he missed the 2004-2008 EU Council "when there was less daily politics and more strategic thinking".
Moreover, the prime minister has retweeted Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn's post which warned that the corona crisis was not over and that it was "high time to reach an agreement which allows us to provide the urgently needed support for our citizens and economies".
On Sunday, Janša also dismissed claims that Hungary, Poland and Slovenia are resisting the system that would tie the financial aid to respecting the rule of law and basic human rights, saying that Slovenia wanted the "same standards regarding independent judiciary, media, freedom of speech" to be used for all.
Wrong. We just want the same standards to be used for all. For Poland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Germany... Same standards regarding independent judiciary, media, freedom of speech... There is no way we support selective justice and 2 standards no matter where. #RuleOfLaw https://t.co/Pz5dbYuqJ7
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) July 19, 2020
The first in-person summit of EU leaders after the start of the coronavirus pandemic started on Friday and so far a compromise on the 2021-2027 financial framework and the relief package designed to shore up Europe's economies has not yet been reached.
The negotiations will be resumed at noon on Sunday. A new proposal by EU Council President Charles Michel is expected to be presented to broker an agreement.
According to unofficial sources, under the new proposal the EUR 750 billion recovery fund is to provide EUR 450 billion in subsidies and EUR 300 billion in loans. The volume of subsidies would be therefore reduced and the volume of loans increased to cater to the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden.
Under the previous proposal, which was opposed by the frugal four and Finland, two thirds of the fund would be available in subsidies and a third in loans.
