European Union leaders take part in the first face-to-face EU summit since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brussels, Belgium July 17, 2020. The 27 leaders, all masked up, greeted each other with elbow bumps rather than their customary cheek kisses and handshakes, and there were birthday gifts for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. But their display of bonhomie came after weeks of cross-continent quarrelling over the scale and scope of a joint rescue fund. The 27 EU heads gathered in a room in the Brussels EU headquarters equipped with hand sanitisers and disinfected headsets. “The stakes couldn’t be higher,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before the meeting began.

Source: Standard Digital July 17, 2020 10:18 UTC