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FEDERAL CHANCELLOR MERKEL:
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!

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We have achieved a positive
outcome after a very long meeting

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and I’m very
pleased about this.

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Emmanuel Macron, the
French President, and I,

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are sitting with you today.

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We can say that,
between 18 May,

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when we launched our common
initiative, and 21 July

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we have been treading
an important path

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on which Europe has
shown that it is prepared

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to take new approaches in
a quite unique situation.

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I believe that this is necessary. 
Exceptional events –

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and that’s what the pandemic
that has affected us all

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is at the end of the day –

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call for exceptional
new methods.

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It also took an
exceptionally long time.

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Only our predecessors in Nice

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took a few minutes
longer, or so I’ve heard.

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That’s what people
have said today;

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I haven’t fact-checked that.

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But we have managed now to
lay the financial foundations

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for the European Union
for the next seven years

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and have, with
the recovery fund,

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also come up with a response
to the biggest crisis

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in the history of the EU.

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The basic structure
of this recovery fund

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as proposed by the Commission

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has been kept in place

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and many of our proposals from
the Franco-German initiative

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have been taken on board.

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At 750 billion euro,

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the total sum has
remained the same.

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At 390 billion euro,
the grants are a little less

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and the guarantees
slightly more.

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I believe we have demonstrated

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that we’re also capable of
ensuring predictability now.

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Of course, I would like to thank
the team under Charles Michel,

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the President of the
European Council,

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and Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen’s team

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and herself most sincerely.

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The budget is geared towards
the future of Europe.

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However, it is also focused on
ensuring that the single market

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is able to continue to function
in the European Union’s

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most severe economic crisis
and that the countries

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that are particularly
affected by the pandemic

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are able to step up
their recovery efforts.

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The grants we are
able to provide

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and also the guarantees
are bound up with reforms,

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further developments and two
major challenges for the future.

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Thirty percent of the funds
will be spent on climate issues

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and also on digital
transformation.

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There was a long discussion

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on how to make
sure the reforms

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are actually being
carried out.

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The Commission will
play an important role

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on the one hand, of course,

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but the member states
will also assess this.

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I want to state once again
that our key priority today

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was to demonstrate our
determination, of course.

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That wasn’t easy.

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The fact that we needed
so many days also shows

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that we have converged on these
issues from different standpoints.

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But what matters, to
my mind, is the fact

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that we pulled
together in the end

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and that we all firmly believe that we
will also genuinely make a difference

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with the decisions we have reached today.

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We will now have further
very difficult discussions

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with the European Parliament,
of course.

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The Presidency that Germany
is currently holding

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as a rotating presidency

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will also play an important
role in this regard.

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I hope our colleagues at
the European Parliament

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have seen that we have worked
hard to achieve a good solution

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and that we will then also
hold productive discussions

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with the European Parliament.

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I’m very relieved.

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We didn’t succeed in February,

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but we have now.

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I believe this sends an important
signal also above and beyond Europe

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that this unique structure,
this unique construct,

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the European Union, 
consisting of 27 member states

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with their doubtlessly very
different backgrounds,

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is nevertheless capable
of working together

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and has demonstrated
its ability to act.

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That is a positive signal.