2020 German Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The pandemic shifted the goals of the presidency, and Merkel opened the term with a desire to establish a coronavirus fund to weather the economic impact of the pandemic.^[5][6] Initially agreed to in July, the Next Generation EU fund, consisting of 750 billion EUR in grants and loans, was held up when Poland and Hungary vetoed the European Union's proposed seven-year budget, as they both opposed how the distribution of funds was conditional upon respecting the rule of law.^{[2][7][8][9][10]} The budget was eventually passed in December, after the other member states agreed to delay the implementation of the rule-of-law mechanism.^[2][11]

At the end of the term, Politico Europe gave the German presidency a grade of B+, praising how the presidency addressed health care, but finding it lacking in the areas of transport and migration.^[4] Deutsche Welle's review of the presidency was also mixed, highlighting the response to the pandemic and progress on environmental issues, but noting that some goals that had originally been set by the presidency had been left untackled.^[2]