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EurActiv (24 June 2020)

By Christina Goßner and Philipp Grüll | EURACTIV.de | translated by Daniel Eck

One week before Germany takes over the EU Council presidency on 1 July, its highly anticipated programme went through the cabinet, with priorities focused on managing the coronavirus crisis and its economic and social fallout. However, that was not enough to placate critics in the green and left-wing opposition. EURACTIV Germany reports.

“Our partners’ expectations of us are high,” deputy government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told a federal press conference.  For Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Germany was no less than the “motor and moderator of Europe.”

The programme, which was made available to EURACTIV Germany, draws lessons from the pandemic. Not only will European crisis management instruments be evaluated, but equipment and medicines will from now on be produced in Europe rather than imported from third countries. The same applies to food.

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