EU agrees historic cut to budget after tough talks
European Union leaders agreed Friday the first ever cut in the bloc's budget after all-night talks driven by sharp differences over priorities for the next seven years.
"Deal done!" summit chair and EU President Herman Van Rompuy said on Twitter after more than 24 hours of tough talks between the bloc's 27 heads of state and government.
"There's a lot in it for everybody", he added a short time later, while emphasising that the 2014-2020 austerity budget embodied "a sense of collective responsibility from European leaders."
Pushed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said the EU could not increase spending while many of its members were forced to slash their national budgets, leaders agreed a cut of around three percent compared with the 2007-13 budget.
"Every previous time these multi-year deals have been agreed, spending has gone up. Not this time," Cameron said.
It was "a good deal for British taxpayers", he said, adding that for a growing eurosceptic audience at home, it also "shows that working with allies, it is possible to take real steps towards reform in the European Union."
The British leader's stance had put him on a collision course with countries such as France and Italy, which wanted increased EU investment to boost growth and curb record unemployment.
French President Francois Hollande nonetheless deemed the final figures on the bloc's budget "a good compromise."
"It was an agreement that as usual was long to produce, but which I believe is a good compromise," he said.
Significantly, the EU's farm support programme, of which France is a major beneficiary, and Cohesion Funds, used to help new member states catch up with their peers, were not cut further from figures Van Rompuy submitted to a failed summit in November.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the deal "was worth the effort" and she "was glad that everyone showed the needed willingness to compromise."
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was also upbeat, and said his country would receive more than 16 billion euros from the budget.
Comments