The New York Times reported Tuesday that according to several people familiar with the matter, U.S. Ambassador to Britain Robert Johnson told colleagues in February 2018 that President Donald Trump asked him to reach out to the British government for possible help in getting one of Trump’s golf courses selected as a site for the British Open. The Times said its story was based on information from three people with knowledge of the events. FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump waits on the fourth tee at Turnberry golf course, Scotland, July 14, 2018.The newspaper reported that Johnson brought up the idea of trying to get the tournament assigned to the Trump Turnberry course in Scotland with the secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell, who told the newspaper it would be inappropriate for him to discuss his interactions with Johnson. The report said Mundell instead referred reporters to a British government statement that said Johnson had not made any requests about the tournament. The Times also said Johnson, the State Department and White House all declined to comment. The British Open site is selected by a private organization. 
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Even as European Union leaders celebrate their historic coronavirus recovery package agreement, some regions and countries are bracing for a possible resurgence of the infection.  Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Portugal count among others reporting an increase in cases. Parts of Barcelona, Spain have gone under lockdown. And in another hard-hit country, Italy, the Lazio region that includes Rome warned also of possible local lockdowns, if more clusters of the infection are found.  Meanwhile, France on Monday imposed a face mask requirement for all indoor public spaces, threatening violators with a $155 fine. The country has seen a modest rise in cases, but a more worrying spike in areas like the northeast, Brittany, and the territory of Mayenne.  “At this point we are very far from a second wave,” French Health Minister Olivier Veran told France Info radio Monday.  Still, he warned, if the trend continued, the government may consider regional or even nationwide confinement measures. “All options are on the table,” Veran said.  With European economies battered by the pandemic’s fallout, such a scenario likely sends chills through many capitals. In France alone, the first lockdown will contract the economy by roughly 9 percent this year, according to the INSEE statistical agency.  “I think a second wave that would need a lockdown, either national or regional, would be very costly from an economic perspective,” said Gregory Claeys, senior economist for Brussels-based research group Bruegel.  Each month of confinement in France cost the country roughly 3 percent of GDP, he added, citing INSEE.  All the more reason, some analysts say, for European collaboration in avoiding such a scenario — as EU leaders finally did Monday, in adopting the recovery package after marathon talks. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, and European Council President Charles Michel address a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels, July 21, 2020.Could have done better The increase in European cases dwarfs that of the United States, with its recent spell of record daily cases. The pandemic’s hotspot has long moved on from Europe, where Italy and Spain topped global charts in April. Still, many observers say the region could have done a lot better in managing the pandemic.  A Monday New York Times article described Europe as “behind the curve” in managing the first wave, its coronavirus pandemic plans and sense of readiness built on a sand castle of “miscalculations and false assumptions.” National stockpiles of masks and other medical supplies existed only on paper, the newspaper reported, with acquisitions based on presumed supply chains that were disrupted by the pandemic.  “I think now, at least, they are better prepared,” economist Claeys said, with certain items like masks in good supply. “That will be helpful in avoiding another lockdown.”  New research from Britain’s University of Southampton points to another area where European countries should coordinate more; in lifting lockdowns and other virus-curbing measures.  Meanwhile, the university’s WorldPop study published Friday in the journal Science and mapping several scenarios, found any virus resurgence could be brought forward by up to five weeks if European states acted independently in lifting restrictions.  “The danger is you would have this case of whack-a-mole if it’s not coordinated, where some places have lower cases, while others experience an increase,” said Nick Ruktanonchai, the study’s lead author.   While Europe governments did not coordinate their lockdowns, he said, life didn’t immediately go back to normal after they were lifted. Among the population, “there was a fair amount of adherence for a while” to restrictive measures, helping to even the playing field.  Now, with cases still relatively low across the EU, “time has essentially been bought,” Ruktanonchai said, to build up infrastructure to cope with an “inevitable” second wave. Among other needed investments, he said: cross-border testing and contact tracing.  Yet not all European countries have rolled out contact tracing apps. Some that have, including France, found very little public interest — and the different European apps are not all compatible.   A different economic story  Still, these and other virus-curbing mechanisms may be needed sooner, rather than later.  Sweden, which did not go under lockdown, has seen a sharp rise in cases in recent weeks, but also a decline in serious instances and deaths.  Belgium has also seen an overall caseload increase, with numbers doubling in some areas.  The country was among the world’s worst hit by the virus on a per-capita basis, and virologists warned Friday the country could be at the start of a second wave, the Reuters news agency reported.  Meanwhile, the EU’s newly agreed on recovery package has ushered in some needed good news. Overall, Bruegel’s Claeys believes, the bloc has done a better job managing the pandemic’s economic fallout than its health one. “I’m still waiting for a second New York Times article saying that even if Europe maybe was not prepared, on the economic front we gave a very good response,” he said.  In countries like Germany, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, governments have heavily subsidized payrolls, allowing coronavirus-idled workers to remain paid.  The European Central Bank rolled out a vast bond buying program to help member states weather the crisis, while the EU relaxed fiscal rules, allowing those states to run up bigger deficits through massive rescue packages.  In both cases, Claeys said, Europe has “learned from its past mistakes” — notably its sluggish response to the 2009 global financial crisis.  While Claeys had hoped for a bigger share of non-repayable grants in the newly agreed to EU recovery package, its passage “shows Europe is able to act in a relatively short amount of time,” he said. “That it’s ready to do things together — and that it’s a sustainable construction.”  
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For Turkish journalist Emre Kızılkaya, social media is a necessity. He’s been using platforms including Twitter since 2008, tweeting during the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul in 2013 and when soldiers raided his newspaper building after the failed coup attempt in 2016.But if Turkish lawmakers heed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s calls this month for greater control over social media, Kızılkaya and other journalists could lose one of the last platforms that allows them to report freely.A draft bill — first introduced in April and backed by Erdogan — calls for large platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google to appoint a legal representative in Turkey to handle court requests to remove content or provide the identity of users. Companies that fail to appoint a representative within 30 days of the legislation going into effect would face gradually increasing fines and bandwidth reductions of up to 90 percent, a Turkish legislator told reporters. Proposals are a concernLocal journalists and digital rights experts say the proposals are a concern in a country that has limited space for independent journalism and where social media plays a key role in reporting on and sharing news.“I check the pulse of the public [on social media],” said Kızılkaya, who is vice president of the International Press Institute’s national committee in Turkey and project editor at Journo, a nonprofit news platform. “Social media is a part of history. Controlling it would mean to rewrite the history.” Erdogan called for further controls on social media on July 1, the day after social media users posted insulting comments when his daughter and son-in-law announced the birth of their child. Police detained individuals alleged to have been behind 11 of the 19 accounts that criticized the family.“These platforms do not suit this nation,” Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development (AKP) party. “We want to shut down, control [them] by bringing [a bill] to parliament as soon as possible.”Erdogan called on lawmakers to fast-track the legislation. Lawmakers said Tuesday they were submitting a nine-article draft bill to parliament. It is due to be debated by the general assembly next week.Ozlem Zengin, a ruling party legislator told reporters the draft bill would “balance freedoms with rights and laws,” adding, “We aim to put an end to insults, swearing, to harassment made through social media.”Opposition parties said they were concerned the measures would further limit access to social media and independent news, the Associated Press reported.Press freedom has been under assault in Turkey for years. Following a failed military coup in 2016, Erdogan’s government closed more than 150 news outlets and jailed more than 100 journalists, often on terrorism-related accusations.  Journalists deemed pro-opposition or who criticize Erdogan can find themselves in court, including on charges of “insulting the president,” and authorities have temporarily blocked access to popular websites, including YouTube and Wikipedia.Reporters Without Borders says Turkey is conducting a “witch-hunt” against government critics and independent journalists. The Paris-based media watchdog ranks the country 154 of 180 countries, with 1 being most free in its World Press Freedom Index.With traditional networks under attack, social media has become an important resource for journalists and media organizations, Kızılkaya said. Pro-government businessmen began to take over news outlets, which then saw audiences shrink. Now, many independent journalists and smaller outlets rely on social media for their work.“It may be one of the reasons why the government wants to expand its control on social media,”  Kızılkaya said. “Simply put, the digital domain is the last refuge of independent journalism in Turkey.”Social media platforms are popular among the country’s population of 84 million. As of April, Turkey had 37 million regular Facebook users  – those who access their account at least once a month – and 13.6 million on Twitter, according to data from Statista, a German online research group.The legislation is not the first attempt by Ankara to try to control social media.In the first six months of 2019 — the most recent information available — Twitter received 388 court orders for removal requests and 5,685 requests from government agencies, police or other organizations, the platform’s transparency report shows. Twitter said it complied in full or partially with 5 percent of requests.Last month, Twitter permanently removed over 7,300 accounts that it determined were “fake and compromised.” Analysis found fake accounts, as well as some profiles associated with the president’s critics that had been hacked,  were used to promote support for the AKP and Erdogan, Twitter said.’Propaganda machine’In response, the presidential communications director called the platform a “propaganda machine” and dismissed allegations that the accounts were supporting the ruling party.The proposed bill has worrying implications, Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Asia policy director and senior international counsel for digital rights organization Access Now, told VOA. Such legislation sends a “symbolic statement” to news organizations, he said.“[Governments] are saying ‘Look, comply with the request we’re making to you. Otherwise we’re going to come at you with a law, change the law to make you more liable or to make it more expensive for you to operate’,” he said.Other rights groups, including the International Press Institute and European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, condemned the proposed law as an attempt to “further restrict freedoms.”“Turkey is obliged to ensure the right to freedom of expression and access to information,” a joint statement read.Kızılkaya said that while the measures are troubling, he has hope for the future of independent journalism.“Turkey’s next-generation journalists are eager and capable to create a better environment for the freedom of the press,” Kızılkaya said. “They stick to journalism, and they insist on doing it in Turkey for the public good.”Mehmet Toroglu contributed to this report from Washington.
 
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The Egyptian parliament’s decision Monday to authorize the possible deployment of Egyptian troops in Libya is highlighting concerns in the region about a possible escalation of the Libyan conflict.  International pressure is, meanwhile, growing on Turkey over its involvement as Ankara doubled down on its support of Libya’s Government of National Accord, fueling fears of a wider a regional war.After a phone conversation Monday, President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al Sissi added their voices to growing international calls for a Libyan ceasefire.FILE – Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar walks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Apr. 14, 2019 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency.The Turkish intervention turned the tide in the conflict, with Haftar forces suffering heavy losses. Alarmed by this reversal, Cairo is looking to intervene.Widening conflictOn Monday, the Egyptian parliament voted to allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to order Egyptian military intervention in Libya.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Friday pledged “never to abandon the Libyan people,” claiming a new agreement deepening cooperation with Tripoli will be signed soon.Ankara has so far not responded to Trump’s call for a ceasefire. But geo analyst Yoruk Isik says Trump’s intervention is unlikely to end the fighting immediately.”Ankara will say this is wonderful. I want a ceasefire. But the Trump statement is not necessarily saying I want a ceasefire tomorrow,” said Isik.”If Trump were to call Erdogan and demand an immediate ceasefire, it would, of course, be different. But I don’t think that call will happen because Turkey stopping right at this moment, means the Russians will retain the upper hand in Libya, and Washington doesn’t want a ceasefire with the Russians fully settling in Libya.”Libya Remains Calm as Egypt’s Parliament Authorizes Military InterventionEgypt’s leader Sissi and US President Trump concur on need for cease-fire in Libya in a Monday night phone call Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Russia are all suspected of supplying arms to Haftar’s forces.Despite growing international pressure, Ankara believes it has a winning hand in Libya, calculating that no country is ready to confront the situation directly. Analyst Uzgel warns of the dangers of overconfidence.”There is a kind of hubris self-indulgence. Sometimes this may lead them (Turkish leaders) to make serious mistakes as they’ve done in the past.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday as tensions escalated between the United States and China over trade, the status of the South China Sea, the origins of the novel coronavirus and the Chinese response to the virus when it first emerged in the city of Wuhan.   
 
The London visit by America’s top diplomat came just days after Johnson decided, on security grounds, to prohibit Chinese tech giant Huawei from participating in the development of Britain’s fast-speed 5G phone network — a ban Washington had been urging for more than year.
 
After finishing his initial talks, Pompeo tweeted,  “Constructive visit with @BorisJohnson today. Our two countries’ long-standing, strong bilateral relationship has laid the foundation for today’s candid discussion on issues ranging from 5G telecommunication to our negotiations for a U.S.-UK free trade agreement.”
 
In a press conference later Pompeo praised Britain for its tough line on Huawei and Hong Kong. “I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate the British government for its principled responses to these challenges. You made a sovereign decision to ban Huawei computer 5g networks.”He added: “We want every nation to work together to push back against the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts in every dimension that I described to you today that certainly includes the United Kingdom includes every country, we hope we can build out a coalition that understands this.”The two Western allies appear to be increasingly seeing eye-to-eye about the challenges posed by the Chinese government, say analysts and Western diplomats. On his arrival in the British capital, Pompeo tweeted that he was looking forward to meeting with Johnson “as we tackle our most pressing global issues in combating COVID-19 and addressing our shared security challenges.” COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
 
Pompeo and Johnson observed social distancing guidelines while in the Downing Street garden. “Hope you appreciate the social distancing,” Johnson told journalists gathered there. “Social distance does not imply diplomatic or political distance,” the British leader added.  
 
Analysts say Pompeo wants to capitalize on Britain’s hardening line toward Beijing. The Huawei ban was a major policy U-turn for Britain which has been trying to walk a tight rope between Washington, its long-stranding traditional ally, and Beijing, which it has been courting heavily since the 2016 Brexit vote in the hope of securing a lucrative trade deal.FILE – A sign reading “Boris Stop Huawei” is seen next to the M40 motorway, Tetsworth, Britain, May 1, 2020, in a reference to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.The outright confrontation between Washington and Beijing in the wake of the coronavirus has made a balancing act even harder to pull off, say former British diplomats. Beijing’s increasingly aggressive moves in the South China Sea, where it is alarming its neighbors with expansive territorial claims, is also prompting a cross-party political backlash in Britain.  
 
This week Britain announced it was suspending an extradition agreement with Hong Kong because of a draconian Beijing-imposed security law on the former British colony. The British and Chinese governments have been trading increasingly acrimonious barbs since the Chinese government launched a crackdown earlier this year on Hong Kong — a move the British say breaches a deal the two countries struck in 1997 for the handover of the territory to China.
 
Britain has also imposed an arms embargo on Hong Kong, banning the export of equipment that could be used for “internal repression.” Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, who also met with Pompeo, told the House of Commons Monday that the measures were a “necessary and proportionate response” to the new security law, which Britain says is being used to outlaw dissent. “The UK is watching and the whole world is watching,” Raab told lawmakers.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, left, walks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outside of 10 Downing Street, in London, July 21, 2020.China responded to Monday’s announcement by warning that Britain would “bear the consequences” of its actions. “Now the UK side has gone even further down the wrong road in disregard of China’s solemn position and repeated representations,” a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London said. He added,“ China urges the UK side to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s internal affairs, in any form.”
 
Australia and Canada suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong earlier this month, and the United States ended preferential economic treatment for the territory, while also imposing sanctions on Chinese officials. China has taken retaliatory steps.
 
British officials have started to echo more volubly long-standing American grievances about Beijing’s treatment of China’s Muslim Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in northwest China. Since 2015, more than a million Uighurs have been detained in what Chinese officials describe as “vocational education centers” for job training, but critics and rights campaigners describe as internment or concentration camps, part of an effort to forcibly assimilate the Uighurs.  
 
The ban on Huawei has angered Beijing and retaliation is almost a certainty. Chinese officials say the ban has wrecked any chances of Beijing agreeing to a wide-ranging free trade deal with Britain, something London has been hoping would come in compensating for the likely commercial losses the country will suffer from Brexit.   
British companies such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Burberry and Jaguar Land Rover, which have large investments in China, are bracing for retaliation. With a Chinese trade deal likely off the table, a favorable post-Brexit agreement with the U.S. is of even greater urgency for Britain, say analysts.  
 
A senior Chinese official accused Britain of pandering to Washington shortly after Pompeo landed in London. “We do not want to see the tit-for-tat between China and the U.S. happen in China-U.K. relations,” the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, tweeted.
 
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday hailed Johnson’s Huawei ban as Pompeo set off for Britain.
 
Pompeo is scheduled also to meet in London with Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, who fled China recently, and Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. Patten is a former Conservative minister who has become increasingly critical of China and advocates confrontation with Beijing.
 
In a recent press interview, he said Britain and other Western countries had been naive in thinking they could tame China’s Communist leaders by “cozying up” to them. He said successive Western governments had fallen for a myth about China “that somehow at the end of all the kowtowing there’s this great pot of gold waiting for us… We keep on kidding ourselves that unless we do everything that China wants we will somehow miss out on great trading opportunities. It’s drivel,” he added.
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met face to face with members of his Cabinet Tuesday for the first time since March.
 
Johnson and his Cabinet gathered at the Foreign Office so they could have a room large enough to practice social distancing due to the new coronavirus.
 
In his remarks before the meeting, Johnson said he will not let the pandemic blow him off course and delivering on his agenda. He touted his plan to build 40 new hospitals and hire 50,000 more nurses, as well as thousands more police officers and more funding for schools.
 
The pandemic would likely be on the agenda for the meeting a day after scientists at Oxford University said their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to prompt a protective immune response in hundreds of people who received the shot.
 
Johnson called the in-person meeting just days after encouraging people to return to their jobs. He said last week he would give employers more flexibility to determine the safest way to bring employees back to their workplaces.
 
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European Union leaders reached an agreement early Tuesday on a $2.1 trillion budget and coronavirus relief package.    The agreement includes $857 billion in coronavirus funding that will be issued as loans and grants to the hardest-hit countries. It came after negotiations stretched on for four days and nights, well beyond what was expected.  A main sticking point was a divide between a group of five richer countries in the north, including the Netherlands and Austria, that advocated a cut in the original proposal of $572 billion in grants along with stricter spending controls, while others such as Spain and Italy sought to keep such restrictions to a minimum. European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.The final agreement included a compromise of $446 billion in grants. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the final deal “a good package that safeguards Dutch interests and that will make Europe stronger and more resilient.” European Council President Charles Michel celebrated the package as a success for all 27 member countries and “the right deal for Europe right now.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “We have laid the financial foundations for the EU for the next seven years and came up with a response to this arguably biggest crisis of the European Union.” The European Parliament must still give its approval to the agreement. EU nations have experienced 135,000 deaths from COVID-19, with Italy, France and Spain having among the highest death tolls in the world.  The lockdown orders instituted by many governments to stop the spread of the virus have hurt the EU economy, with economists forecasting an 8.3% contraction this year. 
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A deal on a massive economic rescue package reached by leaders of the European Union and reports of more promising coronavirus vaccines fueled a surge in global markets Tuesday. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index ended the day’s trading session up 0.7%.  The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong earned 2.3%, and Shanghai’s Composite index is up 0.2%. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney earned 2.5%.  Seoul’s KOSPI index finished 1.3% higher, and the TSEC index in Taiwan gained 1.8%.  Mumbai’s Sensex is up 1.3% in late afternoon trading. Over in Europe, London’s FTSE index is up 0.7%, the CAC-40 in Paris is 1.2% higher, and Frankfurt’s DAX index has gained 1.9%. Oil markets are also rising Tuesday. U.S. crude oil is trading at $41.85 per barrel, up 2.5%, and Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is up $44.45 per barrel, up 2.7%. And in futures trading, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all trending positively, indicating a strong start for Wall Street at the opening bell Tuesday.   
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European Union leaders reached an agreement early Tuesday on a $2.1 trillion budget and coronavirus relief package. The deal came after negotiations stretched on for four days and nights, well beyond what was expected, with various factions of member countries divided over the exact structure of the funding and whether it should include restrictions such as spending controls.European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.European Council President Charles Michel announced the finalization of the talks with a one-word tweet: “Deal!” EU nations have experienced 135,000 deaths from COVID-19, with Italy, France and Spain having among the highest death tolls in the world. The lockdown orders instituted by many governments to stop the spread of the virus have hurt the EU economy, with economists forecasting an 8.3% contraction this year. 
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Poland’s justice minister says it would be unacceptable for the European Union to force the conservative country to legalize gay marriage so it can get EU financial aid. “There is a real risk that we may find ourselves in a situation where the EC (European Commission) will effectively force us to introduce the so-called homosexual marriages with the right to adopt children,” Zbigniew Ziobro told a news conference Monday, Reuters reports. “We cannot agree to this under any circumstances.” Some EU leaders at the tough budget talks in Brussels have demanded member states adhere to so-called democratic values or payment would be blocked. Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice Party and President Andrzej Duda were reelected last week in part because of their pledges to ban gay couples from adopting children and forbidding schools from teaching about civil rights for homosexuals. Duda has called gay rights an “ideology” worse than communism. Polish gay rights activist Alicja Sienkiewicz says Duda is treating the LGBT community as the enemies of the state.  “This is bizarre. If you want to get these (EU) funds, you should automatically accept how the EU expects them to be spent, because adhering to the rule of law means adhering to basic human rights, and it is about respecting them,” she said. Poland could lose billions of dollars in COVID-19 recovery money and other aid if it fails to live up to what the EU regards as democratic standards.  
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The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on the regional strongman leader of Russia’s republic of Chechnya over human rights violations including torture and extrajudicial killings. Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has run Chechnya like his personal fiefdom, relying on his security forces to quash dissent. International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov and his lieutenants of abductions, torture and killings of their opponents. Rights defenders also hold the Chechen authorities responsible for a sweeping crackdown on gays over the past few years that has seen more than 100 people arrested, subjected to torture, with some of them killed. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities said a probe found nothing to support the charges. In a statement announcing the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed at “extensive credible information that Kadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and extrajudicial killings.” Pompeo said the restrictions will apply to Kadyrov’s wife and two daughters and he encouraged U.S. allies to take similar measures. Kadyrov responded on his blog, posting a picture of himself standing in a weapons storage room with a smile on his face and a machine gun in each hand. “Pompeo, we accept the fight. It’s going to be even more fun down the road,” he said. Russian lawmakers said that Moscow will find a way to reciprocate to the U.S. sanctions against Kadyrov, but wouldn’t say what a possible response could be.  The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, providing generous federal subsidies and dismissing international criticism of his rule. The Kremlin also has stood by Kadyrov amid Russian opposition claims of his involvement in the 2015 killing of prominent Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, which the Chechen leader has rejected. An officer in Chechnya’s security forces was convicted of shooting Nemtsov on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin and received a 20-year prison term.  
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Britain’s government suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong on Monday and blocked arms sales to the former British territory, after China imposed a tough new national security law.
As tensions grow with Beijing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had concerns about the new law and about alleged human rights abuses in China in particularly in regard to the treatment of the Uighur minority. He described the measures being taken Monday as “reasonable and proportionate.”
“We will protect our vital interests,” Raab said. “We will stand up for our values and we will hold China to its international obligations.
Raab followed the example of the United States, Australia and Canada by suspending extradition arrangements with the territory.
The arms embargo extends a measure in place for China since 1989. It means that Britain will allow no exports of potentially lethal weapons, their components or ammunition as well as equipment that might be used for internal repression such as shackles, firearms and smoke grenades.
The review of the extradition measures comes only days after Britain backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a role in the U.K.’s new high-speed mobile phone network amid security concerns fueled by rising tensions between Beijing and Western powers.
Johnson’s government has already criticized China’s decision to impose a sweeping new national security law on Hong Kong. The U.K. has accused the Beijing government of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration under which the U.K. returned control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible residents of the community.
Beijing has objected to the move. China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, recently described the offer as “gross interference” in Chinese affairs.  
Liu told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday that Britain was “dancing to the tune” of the U.S. and rejected the allegations of human rights abuses against the mainly-Muslim Uighur people.
He accused Western countries of trying to foment trouble with China.  
“People say China (is) becoming very aggressive. That’s totally wrong,” he told the BBC “China has not changed. It’s Western countries, headed by United States — they started this so-called new Cold War on China.” 
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Police and security officials in Frankfurt, Germany, announced Monday they have banned late gatherings in that city’s opera square after a party there turned violent over the weekend, resulting in 39 arrests.The square – known locally as the “Opernplatz” – had become a popular gathering place for what locals called “corona parties” as German clubs and bars remain closed because of the COVID pandemic.  Officials say as many as 3,000 people attended such a gathering Saturday and it was mostly peaceful through the night. But Frankfurt police chief Gerhard Beres said in early hours of Sunday, a brawl broke out and as police moved to stop it and help a bleeding man, the crowd turned on them, pelting them with bottles.Beres said police arrested 39 suspected bottle-throwers, eight of whom were still in custody Sunday. Police said 29 of the 39 suspects arrested came to Frankfurt from outside.At a news conference in Frankfurt Monday, Beres, and Frankfurt Security Chief Markus Frank condemned the actions of those who committed the violence and announced the square would now be closed after midnight Fridays and Saturdays. He said the goal was to send a signal to “troublemakers” that “it is just not worth it to come to Frankfurt.” 
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Hundreds of Catalan independence supporters protested the visit of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia on Monday to the northeastern region as part of a royal tour across Spain that is meant to bolster spirits amid the coronavirus pandemic. The visit came as a barrage of media leaks accuse the king’s father, former monarch Juan Carlos I, of allegedly hiding millions of untaxed euros in offshore funds.  Prosecutors in the country’s Supreme Court are determining whether the king emeritus can be investigated for receiving the funds from Saudi Arabia, possibly as kickbacks for a high-speed railway project. Juan Carlos hasn’t publicly addressed the allegations against him. The scandal is the latest to rock the Spanish royal family. In mid-March, it prompted Felipe to renounce any inheritance he could receive from his father and stripped him of the annual stipend as king emeritus. Juan Carlos abdicated on behalf of his son in 2014. With that backdrop, the royal couple launched a visit to all of Spain’s 17 regions that was designed as a show of support for the citizens and the economy as it recovers from the first wave of the pandemic.  The Catalan leg of the tour was initially planned for last week covering several towns and Barcelona, but the monarchy said it had postponed it and scaled it back to a short visit to a monastery because of the spike in virus cases in and around the regional capital. Protesters on Monday carried photos of Felipe upside down and letters completing the sentence “Catalonia doesn’t have a king” during a march organized by ANC, the region’s largest pro-independence civil society group.  The march was headed to the Royal Monastery of Poblet, where the king and the queen were visiting, but police blocked access at the main road. Some of the activists tried to reach the monastery by venturing into nearby vineyards. Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa, left, Spain’s King Felipe VI, third left, and Queen Letizia, third right, visit the Royal Monastery of Poblet, northeastern Spain, July 20, 2020.High-speed and regular trains in and out of the northern Catalan city of Girona were also delayed or cancelled due to “acts of vandalism,” according to a tweet by Spain’s railway infrastructure operator, ADIF. A photo circulated on messaging apps showed tires burning on railways next to a sign showing a crossed out upside down image of a crown. Tensions between separatists in Catalonia, which has a population of 7.5 million, and those in support of Spanish unity came to a head in late 2017 following a banned referendum met with police violence that led to the prosecution of top elected officials and activists.  
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European Union leaders took a break Monday morning on their fourth day of talks aimed at agreeing on a $2 trillion budget and funding to help member states cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The negotiations, which were originally meant to run only through Saturday, were due to resume Monday afternoon. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the leaders were making progress, and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that while the negotiations have been tough, “we can be very satisfied with today’s result.”EU leaders summit in Brussels, July 19, 2020.The past few days have been defined by a divide that has pitted five wealthy northern European countries – Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden – against southern nations that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus and which have the support of Germany and France. The northern countries have advocated instituting strict spending controls as part of any deal, while others such as Italy and Spain have sought to minimize such conditions. EU nations have experienced 135,000 deaths from COVID-19, with Italy, France and Spain having among the highest death tolls in the world. The lockdown orders instituted by many governments to stop the spread of the virus have hurt the EU economy, with economists forecasting an 8.3% contraction this year. 
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Canada’s Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the flight data recorders from a Ukrainian passenger plane downed by an Iranian missile are in Paris where they are expected to be taken to France’s Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority for analysis Monday. Champagne said on Twitter that officials from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board will be present for the investigation. Most of the 176 people on board the plane were Canadian citizens or residents, or were traveling to Canada.People gather for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amrikabir University, where some of the victims were former students, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11, 2020.Iran says its military accidentally shot down the Ukraine Airlines plane in January, shortly after it took off from Tehran’s airport, mistaking it for an incoming missile. The incident happened during a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, just after Iran had launched missiles at several bases in Iraq in response to the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani. Canada, Ukraine and other nations whose nationals were on board the plane have demanded a thorough investigation, and the analysis of the so-called black box recorders recovered from the wreckage has been the subject of negotiation. The plane was manufactured by Boeing, a U.S. company, and due to U.S. sanctions on Iran the United States rejected sending Iran a piece of equipment needed to recover the data from the recorders. 
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The coronavirus outbreak in Florida grew more dire Sunday as nearly 50 hospitals throughout the state say they have no available beds in their intensive care units. The state is not only the COVID epicenter in the United States, it is one of the world’s hot spots, with more than 12,000 new cases reported Sunday – the fifth straight day that number exceeded 10,000. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is making mask wearing in public mandatory. Starting Monday, anyone without a face covering gets an immediate $50 fine. A third offense brings a $500 fine. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber has issued an 8pm curfew for the famed South Beach area, home to countless bars and nightclubs.  “There has been some adherence to the mask rules, not nearly enough. At some points, it was resembling a bit of a party, an outdoor party. We can’t have anything resembling Bourbon Street (in New Orleans) right now in our community,” said Gelber.  In Europe, the focus is on recovery from the pandemic.   European Council President Charles Michel said Sunday that European leaders need to overcome their differences and agree on a budget and a continentwide COVID-19 recovery fund. The 27 European Union leaders appeared to be at an impasse Sunday night on a $2.1 trillion budget that includes $858 billion specifically earmarked to help businesses and others affected by the coronavirus pandemic. “Are the 27 EU leaders capable of building European unity and trust or, because of a deep rift, will we present ourselves as a weak Europe, undermined by distrust,” he implored, telling the leaders to think about the more than 600,000 COVID deaths worldwide.EU leaders meet on the sidelines of an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, July 19, 2020.Europe has more than 3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus as of Sunday, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), and more than 200,000 deaths. The coronavirus has pushed the EU into a deep recession, with economists predicting the bloc’s economy will shrink a staggering 8.3% this year. Reporters in Brussels say the dispute is between five wealthier northern EU nations, dubbed “the frugals,” who want stricter controls on spending than southern nations hit hardest by the pandemic, including Italy and Spain, are willing to accept. In the United States, where new COVID-19 case number records are set nearly every day, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he is “on the brink” of issuing another stay-at-home order in the country’s second biggest city. This would be the third time since March he made such a decision. Garcetti blames the White House for what he calls a lack of national leadership in battling the disease. “This was politicized when it should have been unified. We were left on our own when we should have had help,” he told CNN Sunday. “We know this will be a marathon. Stop telling people this will be over soon. … If we don’t come together as a nation with national leadership, we will see more people die.”  California Governor Gavin Newsome last week again closed bars and restaurants across the state because of the surge in new cases.  The U.S. reported 67,574 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of nearly 3.7 million confirmed cases, and nearly 140,000 deaths, according to data Sunday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The president of Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, has announced a five-part plan to reopen the country he calls “Step by Step.” “These five weeks of improvement allow us to start a new stage today,” President Sebastian Pinera said Sunday. “This plan, which will be step by step, cautiously, prudently, will be applied gradually and flexibly,” he said. Pinera announced plans to reopen Chile after some of the country’s regions have shown improvement in the rate of infections. According to the WHO, Chile had 2,300 new cases Sunday, more than 328,000 confirmed cases and nearly 8,500 deaths as of Sunday. Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced he has COVID-19 after his fourth test for the virus came back positive. He said he went for the test at the first sign of a throat irritation. He joins more than 36,000 of his countrymen who have tested positive, according to WHO data. Nearly 800 Nigerians have died of the disease, the WHO data says. Onyeama said he is going to be isolated in a health facility, but did not sound too worried, tweeting Sunday “That is life. Win some, lose some.”  One of life’s biggest winners revealed Sunday that he and his wife had COVID-19 when the pandemic started to take hold in April. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus told the TV audience watching the PGA Memorial tournament that he and his wife, Barbara, tested positive for the coronavirus but were “done with it” by the third week in April.  “It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said. “Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.” 
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Britain and China issued new salvos of criticism against each other Sunday, with the U.K. foreign secretary hinting that he may suspend the U.K.’s extradition arrangements with Hong Kong over China’s moves against the city-state.  
 
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also accused Beijing of “gross and egregious” human rights abuses against its Uighur population in China’s western province of Xinjiang.
 
In response, the Chinese ambassador to Britain warned that China will deliver a “resolute response” to any move by Britain to sanction officials over the alleged rights abuses.  
 
The comments were the latest signs of sharply increased tensions between the U.K. and China. Issues include China’s treatment of its Uighur minority and a new, sweeping national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory that Britain handed over to China in 1997.
 
Britain’s recent decision to prohibit Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from being involved in the U.K.’s superfast 5G mobile network has further frayed bilateral relations.  
 
Raab said Sunday that Britain’s government has reviewed its extradition arrangements with Hong Kong and that he plans to make a statement Monday in parliament on the topic.
 
Earlier this month, Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s imposition of security legislation on the semi-autonomous territory. Critics see the new law as a further erosion of the rule of law and freedoms that Hong Kong was promised when it reverted to Chinese rule.
 
Raab added that while Britain wants good relations with China, it could not stand by amid reports of forced sterilization and mass education camps targeting the Uighur population in Xinjiang.
 
“It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on. We are working with our international partners on this. It is deeply, deeply troubling,” he told the BBC.  
 
Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, denied there were concentration camps in Xinjiang during an interview with the BBC and insisted there are “no so-called restriction of the population.” When confronted with drone footage that appeared to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led onto trains, Liu claimed there are many “fake accusations” against China.
 
Beijing was ready to respond in kind should Britain impose sanctions on Chinese officials, Liu added.  
 
“If the U.K. goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it,” he said. “You have seen what happened between China (and) the United States … I do not want to see this tit-for-tat between China-U.S. happen in China-U.K. relations.”
 
Liu also said Britain “should have its own independent foreign policy, rather than dance to the tune of the Americans like what happened to Huawei.”  
 
The criticism echoed comments this week by a Chinese government spokeswoman who accused Britain of colluding with Washington to hurt Huawei and “discriminate, suppress and exclude Chinese companies.” 
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Turkey has suspended flights to Iran and Afghanistan as part of measures against the coronavirus outbreak, the Transport Ministry said on Sunday.   Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 25 million people may have been infected with the coronavirus in Iran, although health officials later sought to play down the estimate.   Turkish Airlines had gradually restarted international flights as of June 11. 
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Authorities in Catalonia on Sunday urged more than 96,000 people in three towns to stay at home, as coronavirus cases continued to rise in one of Spain’s worst-hit regions.This is in addition to some four million people in the region, including in its capital Barcelona, that were on Friday urged to stay at home as regional authorities toughened their response to the crisis.In a statement on Sunday, authorities urged people living in Figueres and Vilafant, in the province of Girona, and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, near Barcelona, to stay at home except for essential journeys.The latest figures from Catalonia’s regional health ministry on Saturday showed a daily increase of 1,226 cases.The stay-home call stops short of imposing a mandatory lockdown, but is the strongest measure taken to returning people to home confinement since Spain emerged from a nationwide lockdown last month.New measures include a ban on meetings of over 10 people. Bars and restaurants will be allowed to open, but at 50% capacity inside and with a 2-metre (6.5-foot) distance between tables outside.Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries with more than 28,000 COVID-19 deaths, emerged from a strict national lockdown on June 21. But since then more than 170 infection clusters have sprung up, prompting regional authorities to impose a patchwork of local restrictions. 
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For all its ancient glory, marvelous monuments and historic core, Athens is largely an ugly, 20th-century metropolis that grew rapidly and lawlessly in recent decades. Its population has tripled and the fleet of cars on its streets has surged to over 2 million, or about 20 times more than the tiny European capital’s roads can hold.But now, authorities are striking back, using the novel coronavirus pandemic to free up space and eliminate gas-guzzling cars, hoping to recreate Europe’s most ancient city while facilitating social distancing.Dubbed the Great Walk of Athens, the ambitious plan intends to reclaim almost half of the city’s main car lanes, turning them into about 7 kilometers of car-free pedestrian walkways and 3 kilometers of bicycle lanes, linking them to the capital’s main monuments, including the greatest landmark: the Acropolis.“For some 35 years there has been talk about the need to transform Athens,” said Mayor Kostas Bakoyiannis. “It took us a generation of efforts, but it is high time to actually do it.”“The project will not only enhance the city’s physical appeal, but most importantly, alter the lives of its residents,” he added.With Greece now open to international travelers, the project — among the largest urban initiatives in a European capital — is key to the country’s desperate drive to lure back tourists.Robust action and nationwide lockdowns taken by Greece at the start of the pandemic helped authorities quash the spread of the coronavirus, making this sun-soaked country a stunning success story in the way it handled the global health crisis.With just over 3,983 confirmed cases and 194 deaths, according to state statistics issued Sunday, the country’s casualty toll from COVID-19 is far lower than that of its European peers, positioning Greece as a safe choice for holiday travel.“From Berlin to Bogota, cities across the globe are dealing with a series of emergency measures to deal with the pandemic,” Bakoyannis said. “This is our answer, also, to the pressing need of helping safeguard public health.”By freeing up space, authorities anticipate the project will help avoid congestion in the Greek capital, allowing walkers to keep proper distance, containing the spread of the deadly virus.Under any other circumstance, most Athenians would be balking at the plan. But after rediscovering their city and the delight of taking morning, noon or afternoon strolls during the two-month-long lockdown, many seem receptive to the sustainable mobility project.Still, the $57 million price tag, including a spray of $5,700 steel benches, has come under fierce fire, with critics largely complaining about excessive costs and expenses that they anticipate will balloon as the project proceeds.What is more, critics accuse planners of proceeding with insufficient foresight, ultimately adding to, rather than alleviating, traffic congestion in Athens, home to half of the country’s population of 11 million.“No one objects to the need for more walkways and bicycle lanes,” said Nikos Sofianos, a leftist-leaning member of the Athens municipal council. “But this is clearly a hasty, slapdash decision planned and whipped up without a thorough study — all for the sake of serving the needs of Athens’ tourist image.”“The impacts are dire,” said Sofianos. “Businesses are suffering, unable to load their goods because of the traffic restrictions. Workers, too, are unable to get to their jobs.”Critics have also decried a lack of provisions for the handicapped after a cyclist rammed a blind man, injuring him seriously.While 30 percent more Athenians have gone afoot since the launch of the project last month, a study by the country’s top engineering school showed this week that the plan’s first-month trial run was having little immediate impact.Forecasts of a 30 percent increase in the use in public transport was met only by a 2 percent rise, while traffic congestion soared by as much 30 percent.“The first steps of every project are difficult,” said Giorgos Yiannis, a leading transportation expert. “Every change has a cost.”But, he said, planners anticipate congestion to ease up significantly by the end of the three-month trial period.Even so, municipal council members like Sofianos insist the mayor should pull the plug on the project entirely – a move Bakoyiannis has ruled out.The mayor has instead invited critics to help tweak the contentious plan, vowing to give Athens a long-overdue makeover by 2022. 
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Paris Plages (Paris Beaches) opened this year with an outdoor movie showing on the banks of the River Seine, as the city is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.MK2 Cinemas partnered with the city of Paris to organize this year’s event.”It’s been years, we’re creating operations to take the cinema out of the cinema rooms as a promotion tool, and after the few months of confinement, we thought we needed a way to tell to the people and to tell to the world that cinemas are open in Paris, that Paris is one of the worldwide capital of cinema, and also to create a way for them to enjoy with their families a magnificent night, said Elisha Karmitz, CEO of MK2 Cinemas.On Saturday people watched the 2018 French comedy “Le grand bain” from boats or on deck chairs on the Seine’s banks. Some said they felt safer at an open-air screening.”I already went back to the cinema once, wearing a mask, but I have to admit there is still some apprehension to go back to cinema,” said Luc Bouvier, an attendee. “But here, since it is an open-air screening, there are less doubts, we feel safer.”Paris Plages is an annual event held in July and August during which roads along the River Seine are closed to turn the waterfront into beach front.The event was initiated in 2002 by the newly elected Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, to help people cope with the hot summer in the city. 
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European Union leaders met face-to-face Friday in Brussels for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic emerged on the continent five months ago, but they didn’t see eye-to-eye, and most seasoned observers don’t think they will, even if the summit drags on until Sunday.
 
The need to maintain physical distance meant there could be no public back-slapping, no shaking of hands, no friendly hugs as the leaders wrangled — and face masks were de rigueur at the largest gathering of heads of government and state since the start of the global pandemic.
 EU Leaders Resume ‘Grumpy’ Summit on Budget, Virus FundTensions are running high, and a full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attachedThe absence of the normal bonhomie at EU summits further underscored the cracks in a 27-member alliance that still has not managed to bridge deep rifts triggered by the 2008 financial crash, the subsequent migration crisis, and ongoing disputes over rule-of-law standards that have seen Brussels clash repeatedly over the judicial reforms being pursued by populist governments in Poland and Hungary.Now the pandemic has widened some of those rifts and has given rise to new ones, as member states squabble over how best to recover from a virus that’s roiled the continent, left tens of thousands of dead, wrecked economies and left millions fearing for their livelihoods. The EU economy is projected to contract by 8.3 percent this year.
 European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020. 
On Friday agreement remained elusive on a proposed €1 trillion ($1.1 million) seven-year budget for the EU and on an ambitious €750 billion ($826.5 billion) economic rescue plan for the hardest-hit countries. The recovery package is aimed at managing the biggest economic shock the bloc has ever had to confront in its history. In the run-up to the summit, negotiations over the plan, which were conducted for weeks via bilateral and group video conferences, became increasingly fraught.
 
Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her doubts about a deal being struck at the summit, predicting negotiations would have to continue for weeks after the summiteers had packed their bags and headed back to their capitals.
 
And as Saturday dragged on, her gloomy forecast seemed likely as negotiations faltered, undermined the complex crisscrossing of rival regional and national economic and political priorities. That is complicating the European Commission’s bid, backed by Germany and France, to secure a mandate to borrow billions of euros on capital markets for the first time and to mutualize the debt. This is so all member states share responsibility to pay back the money funded mainly by future EU taxes, in addition to the customs duties and a small share of national sales taxes Brussels already receives.At its heart, the division this time pits a group of four small north European countries, nicknamed the frugal four, against the powerhouses of Germany and France, whose leaders, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, along with the hard-hit countries of southern Europe, are pushing for a recovery plan that would see states, mainly the southerners but also France, bailed out with grants drawn from the proposed $750 billion recovery fund.  
 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, speaks with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, and Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela, second right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 18, 2020.For weeks The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have argued that the fund is too large and the hard-hit countries should only receive repayable loans rather than grants. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, also wants a veto on how the money is spent by the recipients, and all four states blocking a deal want structural reform conditions placed on the cash received and for its expenditure to be heavily monitored and policed by the finance ministers of the bloc.
“I’m doing this for the whole of Europe, because it is also in the interest of Spain and Italy that they emerge from this crisis with strength,” Rutte told reporters Saturday. European Council President Charles Michel, who is chairing the summit, circulated amended proposals overnight Friday trying to squeeze out a compromise, especially over the conditions the frugal four want attached to any financial assistance. A Dutch diplomat told Reuters: “The proposal on governance as put forward by Michel is a serious step in the right direction.” But he cautioned, “in the end, this is a package and there are many more issues to solve.” His boss, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte  repeatedly has told reporters that he believes there is a less than 50 percent chance of reaching an agreement on the recovery fund by Sunday.
 
For France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, the likely main recipients, the frugal four’s demands amount to an incursion into their own national sovereign rights. Their diplomats warn that the summit is emphasizing the lack of European solidarity. “It is getting harder to believe the EU will ever live up to the motto of the Three Musketeers — all for one and one for all,” an Italian diplomat, and a member his country’s negotiating team at Brussels, told VOA.
 
Hungary, backed by its populist nationalist ally Poland, has been threatening to veto the whole recovery package because of a proposed condition that would see countries perceived as flouting democratic principles blocked from any bail-out cash. Poland and Hungary are in the doghouse in Brussels because of judicial reforms they are enacting that the EC and some other member states view as eroding the independence of judges.  
 
Hungary and Poland and some other central European states also fear that they will be short-changed and that Italy, France and Spain, the three European countries hardest hit by the virus, will receive the lion’s share of the grant money. They note all three have bigger economies than they do.
 
Some analysts — as well as some national leaders — insist a deal is essential for the bloc’s long-term survival. A view seemingly shared by Michel, who told the national leaders Friday the substance of the debate wasn’t just about money but of the future and unity of Europe.
 
Ill-natured squabbling leading up to the summit has prompted warnings from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that the EU project itself could be placed in jeopardy unless the richer northern states are generous in helping those in the south. His country is seeing a marked change in public attitudes toward the EU with many Italians expressing anger at the lack of support they received from their neighbors as the pandemic took its toll of Italians in the north of the country.
 From left, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Belgium’s Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.Far from bringing Europe together in solidarity, the pandemic and its economic impact risk deepening fissures in a bloc already split over foreign, defense and migration policies and states’ rights. Economic inequality between member states also is likely to increase — whether the recovery package is agreed upon or not.
 
Richer states have been doling out huge amounts of state aid and subsidies to support their pandemic-struck businesses, giving them an even greater competitive edge over rivals in poorer countries, who can’t match the subsidies. That will aggravate, analysts say, the endemic imbalance within the eurozone between creditor countries in the north and debtor countries in the south.  
 
Additionally, an uneven economic recovery across the bloc risks fueling populist anger and anti-EU sentiment in the countries that lose out. The recovery package may help to blunt that, but an overly generous bail-out risks triggering a backlash in northern states, with taxpayers in the frugal four countries and Germany questioning why their money is heading south.
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European Union leaders hunted for compromises Saturday on the second day of a summit to reach a deal on an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, with tensions running high among leaders weary after months of battling the pandemic in their countries.A full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached.The atmosphere “was grumpier” as the talks went on, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte said after Friday’s marathon talks. “This is going to take a while, I think.”EU Leaders to Meet Face-to-Face at Summit to Carve Up $2.1 TrillionMeeting will be first direct encounter for 27 heads of state or government since February despite dangers of coronavirus pandemicThe EU executive has proposed a 750-billion euro fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the most needy countries. That comes on top of the seven-year 1-trillion-euro EU budget that leaders were fighting over when COVID-19 slammed their continent.The summit broke up around lunchtime Saturday so that each delegation could discuss the new proposals from host Charles Michel, according to a European diplomat.The new proposals reduce the proportion of straight-out grants in the rescue package and raise the proportion of loans that will need to be paid back, in an apparent nod to a grouping of “frugal” nations led by the Netherlands, the diplomat said.But the issue of how to track the rescue money remains the key sticking point, the diplomat said. Michel proposed a measure that would stop short of allowing any country a veto on how governments spend the money.Another diplomat described Michel’s new proposals as just the first step in what could be a long journey to agreement. Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the closed-door negotiations.Rutte is seen as a leader of four “frugal” nations that want conditions such as economic reforms attached to EU handouts to help countries recover from the hammer blow of the coronavirus.He met Saturday ahead of the summit for crisis talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giuseppe Conte as well as the leader of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, and Michel.One of Rutte’s allies, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, said the talks were not totally stalled. “There is more and more movement in our direction,” he told ORF television.The pandemic sent the EU into a tailspin with 27-nation bloc’s economy contracting by 8.3% this year, according to the latest predictions. Around 135,000 of its citizens have died from COVID-19.As leaders met in person for the first time since February, they wore face masks, bumped elbows and sat in a cavernous meeting hall so they could maintain social distancing. Many of their negotiating positions were further apart than their chairs.After two fruitless sessions Friday, summit host and European Council President Charles Michel met key players – Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungary’s Viktor Orban – in an attempt to narrow the gaps between them. Orban does not want strings attached to EU funds, Rutte does and Macron is arguing that Europe must show solidarity to claw its way out of the crisis.Michel is expected to present leaders with possible compromises when the summit resumes, though it remains to be seen if they can reach agreement or will have to schedule another meeting.Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was pessimistic after the first day.  “I don’t have the impression that we are getting close to an agreement,” he said.Rutte, however, said that despite the mounting acrimony, the talks were creeping forward.”You make a bit of progress during the day,” he said. “For a start, it helps if you better understand each other’s positions, then you can search for possible compromises.”
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