Germany’s EU presidency could make or break the union

Germany’s government had been busy making big plans about all that it wanted to achieve during its EU council presidency which started this week. But then Covid-19 hit, and all these ideas went out the window. Now the talk in Brussels is that Germany’s council presidency has turned into a ‘corona presidency’. But what will this mean for the future of the EU?

Angela Merkel admitted recently that coronavirus has exposed ‘how fragile the European project is’. After the mortal shock of Brexit, the EU tried to show confidence about the future. Brussels tried to punch above its weight, taking on tech giants like Google and Apple. But now the pandemic has transformed the EU from policymaker into big money spender. This means Germany’s council presidency will revolve around two questions: Can the EU cushion the economic effects of the crisis? And can the member states agree on the EU budget for the next seven years? The budget for the entirety of that period will be in the ballpark of 1.1