European Council adopted conclusions on the recovery plan and multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027
The EU's four-day marathon summit on 17-20 July delivered huge results in financial and political terms, and even systemic development for the EU's competences, with detailed conclusions unanimously agreed running to 68 pages long (download by clicking the link above). The financial support for macroeconomic recovery from the Covid-19 recession amounts to 750 billion euro to be borrowed from capital markets. Of this 390 billion will be distributed in grants, 360 in loans. The borrowing will be repaid from the EU's own resources and new taxes. Expenditure to the most severely affected economies such as Italy and Spain will be receiving up to 5% of their GDPs. These measures are big steps the direction of a more 'federal' type of fiscal system, with innovations considered taboo until the intensity of the Covid-19 crisis imposed the breakthrough.
These are essentially internal EU matters, without immediate impact on the EU's neighbours. But the ground is cleared for more ambitious thinking for the wider Europe too.