Arriving at the summit in Brussels for a third day of marathon talks, Micheál Martin cast doubt on the prospects of a breakthrough because of differences over the size of the fund, currently set at €750 billion, the division between loans and grants, and the conditions that will be attached to the fund.
"One has to make an assessment at some stage in this process that if the package is diluted too much, does it really represent the significant response that the Chancellor Angela Merkel and President [Emmanuel] Macron originally envisaged." The original draft put the grants component at €500 billion, with a further €250 billion in the form of loans.
The rule of law conditionality is targetted at member states such as Poland and Hungary, who have been accused of attacks on press freedom, the independence of the judiciary, and academic freedom.