MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2020) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas praised on Tuesday the EU agreement on the bloc's long-term budget and the post-coronavirus economic recovery fund, calling it "a strong basis" to successfully cope with the pandemic-induced crisis.
Earlier in the day,�EU leaders completed their four-day first in-person summit in Brussels since the pandemic and finally managed to reach an agreement on the 1.07 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) long-term EU budget and the 750 billion euro economic recovery fund.
"In the worst economic crisis of its history, the #EU proves that it is capable of acting decisively and in the spirit of solidarity. This is a strong basis to get Europe's citizens through this crisis well," Maas said before leaving for Greece, as quoted by the German Foreign Ministry on Twitter.
The minister also said that Europe reached a compromise after hard negotiations jumping "higher than many thought [the EU] could."
Commenting on the European Council's decision to allocate 32 billion Euros to Athens from the bloc's recovery fund and another 40 billion euros from the EU budget, Maas said that Europe should not leave Greece alone with the problems of migration in the Mediterranean Sea. Within the context, Berlin advocates for the reform of the Common European Asylum System, the diplomat added.
