The European Green Deal and the EU鈥檚 next multi-annual budget will top the EU leaders鈥� summit agenda on Thursday.
The European Council is expected to give the green light for the European Commission鈥檚 roadmap for sustainable and just economic transition.
鈥淐limate change is the number one priority for this afternoon鈥檚 meeting. I hope we will have an agreement and send a signal about the future of Europe鈥�, Charles Michel, the president of European Council, told journalists at his arrival to the meeting.
Over the past two weeks since taking over the position from the previous President Donald Tusk, Michel paid a visit to several EU countries to discuss the governments鈥� opinion on the 2021-2027 EU Budget.
He warned that European heads of states and governments need to find a 鈥渂alance between classical policies like cohesion, and new policies like migration, climate action and research.鈥�
There is a clear divide between the Western and Eastern European countries on both questions.
The next EU budget proposes to spend less on economic development and cohesion policy, from which Eastern European economies have benefited in the past fifteen years.
At the same time, the plan suggests supporting green and sustainable economic transformation.
鈥淚t would be a strong signal if Europe was the continent that was going to be climate neutral by 2050, but we have to see how it goes鈥�, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her doorstep statement.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban acknowledged that climate change is a problem but said fighting it is a big challenge that costs a lot of money.
Hungary also supports the commission鈥檚 proposal on turning the continent climate neutral by 2050, but Orban thinks that it is not the 鈥減oor countries and the poor people鈥� who have to pay the bill of the green growth strategy. He also expressed his support for nuclear energy.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis also insisted on the importance of nuclear energy and sent a strong message to his Austrian counterpart.
鈥淚f the Czech Republic opts for climate neutrality, Austria won鈥檛 have energy鈥�, he said.
Some 37% of Czech Republic鈥檚 energy production is based on coal plants, while 32% is supplied by nuclear energy.
Austria, which strongly supports clean energy in domestic production and European politics, buys a quarter of its total consumption from the Czech Republic.
The European leaders are expected to hold talks till late night on Thursday and continue the discussions on Brexit and the future of the Economic and Monetary Union on Friday.
By Agnes Szucs in Brussels
Anadolu Agency
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