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Europe's Longtime Powers Unite Behind EU's COVID-19 Rescue Package

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - When European Union leaders meet virtually for a summit Friday,
   a familiar duo will again grab the spotlight.

   COVID-19, which has battered European economies, is also giving a new
   boost to Europe's traditional economic engines, France and Germany, and
   possibly the so-far underwhelming relationship between their leaders.

   German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron
   have found common cause in pushing for a massive coronavirus recovery
   plan for the 27-member bloc -- one that flouts Germany's traditional
   budgetary orthodoxy and puts Berlin at odds with other frugal states.

   But whether the newfound unity opens a new chapter for the two
   countries to power other joint European initiatives is less certain.
   Key hurdles still face the coronavirus rescue package, framed in an
   $843 billion proposal of grants and loans the European Commission
   unveiled last month.

   "I think we can look ahead to a big dogfight," said Daniel Gros,
   director of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies, or
   CEPS, of the opposition facing the package.

   Still, Gros added of member states, "They will have to come together --
   that's quite clear."

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