Germany's Merkel could help secure EU breakthrough

PRESIDENTS and prime ministers from the EU-27 convene for their first face-to-face summit on Friday and Saturday since the coronavirus crisis began. The session is the first major test of the new leadership in Brussels to get big political deals "over the line", yet is also a legacy building moment for Chancellor Angela Merkel in particular too.

This is because Germany assumed the six-month presidency of the EU on July 1 in what is the twilight of Dr Merkel's long period in power. She views the half year between now and Christmas as one of the last big moments for her to cap off what has been a remarkable era in office, and particularly wants to secure a European recovery fund to respond to the Covid-19 crisis; plus a new EU long-term budget for the 2020s; and a post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal.

Dr Merkel has long been the most important political leader in continental Europe, having been in office since 2005, a political eternity ago. To put this longevity into wider European perspective, three US presidents (George Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump), four French presidents (Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron), and five UK prime ministers (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson) have already served during her long tenure. And Dr Merkel has also already exceeded the previous record of Margaret Thatcher as Europe's longest serving female leader, which was 11 years.