Name: Emmanuel Macron accuses Dutch of acting like Brexit Britain at EU coronavirus summit
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Emmanuel Macron accuses Dutch of acting like Brexit Britain at EU coronavirus summit 

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Emmanuel Macron accused the prime minister of the Netherlands of taking Brexit Britain’s obstructive role at EU summits, as marathon talks over stretched into a fourth straight day on Monday.&nbsp;The French President’s patience snapped as tempers flared in tough negotiations over the plans for a €750 bn stimulus package and bolstered €1.1 trillion EU Budget for seven years from 2021.&nbsp;The package is backed by France, Germany, Spain, Italy and others but resisted by the “frugal four” of the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, who were joined by Finland on Sunday.&nbsp;Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands and his allies have demanded more oversight of payments from the rescue fund, more of the cash to be loans&nbsp; rather than non-repayable grants and for the Budget to be slimmed down.&nbsp;Mr Macron accused Mr Rutte of behaving like David Cameron, the former British prime minister who would often boast of “battling for Britain” in Brussels.&nbsp;Mr Cameron’s strategy of taking a hard line in summits for domestic political gain “ended badly” with him losing the Brexit referendum and his job, Mr Macron told Mr Rutte last night.Before threatening to walk from the talks rather than make a bad deal, Mr Macron bashed the table and attacked Sebastian Kurz for leaving the negotiations to take a phone call.&nbsp;The Austrian chancellor was described as offended by one source after Mr Macron said, “You see? He doesn’t care. He doesn’t listen to others.”A French source said accounts of the outburst were “a little caricatured” but said Mr Macron had “taken a hard line on their inconsistencies.”The Dutch prime minister, whose conservative VVD party faces a strong challenge from far-right eurosceptic parties in elections next March, said on Monday morning that “on the whole” progress was being made at the near record length summit.&nbsp;"We're not here to be invited to each other's birthdays for the rest of our lives," he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;His ally Sebastian Kurz appeared to claim victory for their frugals. “Hard negotiations have just come to an end, we can be very satisfied with today's result,” the Austrian Chancellor tweeted, “We'll continue in the afternoon.”Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, addressed the exhausted leaders briefly at about 5.45am on Monday morning before talks broke up until 4pm.He said earlier that more than 600,000 people had died as a result of the coronavirus and called on the divided heads of state and government to unite to accomplish “mission impossible”."That is my heartfelt wish,” he said at their third dinner in a row, which, rather than the ostentatious fare&nbsp; usually served, was a cold plate.The summit of the 27 EU leaders began Friday and was scheduled to end Saturday.&nbsp;Angela Merkel and Mr Macron, the bloc’s two most influential leaders, walked out of heated talks before dawn Sunday with the frugals, bemoaning their lack of commitment to a common cause. "They ran off in a bad mood," Mr Rutte saidLeaders are under pressure to respond to the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus lockdowns at their first face to face summit since the pandemic hit in March.&nbsp;While they could call another summit to agree the rescue plan, they fear a second wave could force further talks back online after previous virtual summits also failed.&nbsp;The&nbsp; recovery fund would be raised by the European Commission against the Budget on behalf of the member states, which would bust a long-standing taboo against raising common debt and&nbsp; be a historic step towards greater integration.Germany and France, with the backing of most of the bloc, are insistent that at least €400 billion of the package must be handouts rather than loans in order to shield the fragile economies of southern Europe from the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic.Mr Rutte and his fiscally conservative group say that figure must be substantially less and more money should be disbursed in the form of loans.&nbsp;The frugals see €350 billion euros as the maximum. Discussions over grants have narrowed with Mr Michel saying they €390 billion euros combined with smaller rebates on EU Budgets.&nbsp;Countries that receive rebates to their Budgets, which include the Netherlands, have insisted they are preserved, despite the UK rebate falling away after Brexit.&nbsp;Mr Rutte wants member states to retain an effective veto over EU funding&nbsp; for recovery plans for the likes of hard-hit Spain and Italy. This would oblige them to reform their labour markets to be more resilient for future crises, he claimed.&nbsp;“The recovery plan cannot become a tool to carry on an ideological battle,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who supports the massive fund to kickstart the economy, “"He can't ask us to do specific reforms,”Mr Conte accused the frugal states of blackmailing Europe and warned their resistance risked ultimately destroying the Single Market and the futures of the young.&nbsp;“Grants are needed for a swift recovery and to strengthen the resilience of countries which face greater difficulties in having economic growth,” he said last night.&nbsp;Hungary, backed by Poland, threatened to veto the package if its disbursement was made dependent on meeting conditions on upholding the rule of law, which is an idea Mr Rutte supports.&nbsp;"I don't like blame games but the Dutchman is the real responsible man for the whole mess, Hungary’s Viktor Orban told reporters on Sunday, “The Dutch prime minister, he is the fighter."Related TopicsAdvertisementRelated TopicsWe rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.Thank you for your support.Need help?Visit ourpage.Close

Emmanuel Macron accused the prime minister of the Netherlands of taking Brexit Britain’s obstructive role at EU summits, as marathon talks over stretched into a fourth straight day on Monday.&nbsp;The French President’s patience snapped as tempers flared in tough negotiations over the plans for a €750 bn stimulus package and bolstered €1.1 trillion EU Budget for seven years from 2021.&nbsp;The package is backed by France, Germany, Spain, Italy and others but resisted by the “frugal four” of the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, who were joined by Finland on Sunday.&nbsp;Mark Rutte,...

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James Crisp

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Emmanuel Macron accuses Dutch of acting like Brexit Britain at EU coronavirus summit

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