EU Council President Charles Michel on Friday proposed setting up a €5 billion ($5.7 billion) reserve fund for any unforeseen consequences of Brexit on bloc member states. “Brexit is challenging for all of us and that is why we propose a Brexit reserve of €5 billion,” said Michel as he unveiled his latest proposal for a long-term EU budget that will be debated by bloc leaders next week.

Brexit with or without a agreement on future ties “will have consequences in Europe for the member states and that’s why I think it’s… necessary to ask the commission to prepare for a needs assessment by November 2021,” he said.

The EU and Britain are currently in negotiations to agree on a basis of trade relations after a post-Brexit transition phase ends on December 31. “We all know that the ongoing negotiations are not easy,” AFP quoted Michel as saying.

Michel, who will chair the first face-to-face meeting of EU leaders since coronavirus lockdowns were lifted, proposed a smaller 2021-27 budget. A long-term EU budget of €1.074 trillion was proposed and a recovery fund of €750 billion for pandemic-hammered economies, with two-thirds in grants and a third in loans.

Source: RT