The corona pandemic has put its mark on the German EU Council Presidency and raised the issue of European solidarity in an unprecedented way. Germany’s presidency will deal with a packed agenda, including negotiations on the EU recovery fund, the Multiannual Financial Framework and the European Green Deal.

In the hangout  by JEF Germany and treffpunkteuropa.de, young JEFers from different European countries come together on 30th of July, 8 pm CEST to discuss their expectations.

Turbulent times mark the beginning of the German EU Council Presidency. The coronavirus pandemic and its far-ranging social and economic consequences dominate the agenda, but many other important topics also require attention. Germany promises to aim to make Europe “stronger, fairer and more sustainable” during its Presidency and proposed initiatives such as the Franco-German recovery fund have raised the hopes of many Europeans for substantial European progress during the German Council Presidency. But the idea of financial solidarity on such an unprecedented scale has also triggered considerable opposition in some member states, which will be one of the major challenges of the German Presidency. At the same time, the longer-term vision of a green and sustainable Europe represented by the Green Deal will need to move forward and the Conference on the Future of Europe, which has been postponed, is supposed to give Europeans the chance to directly influence the Future of Europe. We want to discuss these pressing issues with you and hear your perspectives on them!

After a short introduction and inputs from our speakers, the focus of the discussion will be on three core topics of the German Presidency:

• EU Recovery fund
• European Green Deal
• Conference on the Future of Europe

Our speakers are:

• João Simões (President of JEF Portugal)
• Maria Popczyk (Co-Editor of Kurier Europejski, JEF Poland)
• Juuso Järviniemi (Member of JEF Europe Federal Committee)
• Balázs Brandt (JEF Hungary)
• Théo Boucart (Editor-in-chief of Le Taurillon, JEF-France)
• Ana Skledar (JEF Slovenia)

Our moderators are:

• Marie Menke (editor-in-chief of treffpunkteuropa.de)
• Malte Steuber (president of JEF Germany)

Want to participate? Join us on Zoom this Thursday under the following link: https://zoom.us/j/96536125703

Seit den frühen Morgenstunden gibt es eine Einigung zum Corona-Recovery Fund zur Unterstützung der europäischen Wirtschaft in der Corona-Krise sowie zum Mehrjährigen Finanzrahmen für die EU für den Zeitraum 2021-2027.

Nach vier Tagen Verhandlungen haben die Staats- und Regierungschef*innen einen historischen Kompromiss gefunden, der zwar einige gute Ansätze aufweist, insgesamt aber nicht weit genug geht. Die EU zeigt sich handlungsfähig. Es braucht aber dringend Reformen, damit sie besser und ausreichend auf aktuelle Herausforderungen reagieren kann. Diesen wichtigen Schritt verpassen die Mitgliedstaaten. Es kommt nun auf das Europäische Parlament an.