On Tuesday July 21st, after 5 days of negotiations, the European Council, which brought together the heads of states of the 27 EU member states, reached an agreement on the next long-term EU budget (MFF) and on the recovery fund (Next Generation EU). The 1.82 trillion euro deal (MFF: 1.074 trillion; Next Generation EU: 750 billions) should be hailed as a historic moment. The EU has demonstrated its capacity to step up in the face of an equally historic crisis. 

Mutualised debt and new own resources, including a plastic tax and a digital tax, have been long fought for by the Greens. They are a welcome and huge step forward for EU integration. These new instruments will in particular allow for the 390 billion euros to be disbursed as grants in order to facilitate the post-coronavirus recovery. 

However, the so-called Frugal countries have imposed significant cuts to the budget and have thus prevented the full expression of European solidarity, which the majority of countries were expecting in order to recover from the coronavirus crisis. 

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