BRUSSELS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that European Union (EU) countries were still holding different positions on the bloc's 2014-2020 budget.
"I can't say whether we will be successful, the positions are still far apart," Merkel told reporters as she arrived for a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, who would try to clinch a deal on the budget after they failed to do so last November.
The German leader deemed a deal on the budget as "very important in a time of economic uncertainty and high unemployment," and promised to "do everything" for reaching such a deal.
"We have to be careful as to how we spend but also we must show solidarity between net contributors and recipients," she said.
Merkel said, while aiming to have a "joint result" for the budgetary negotiations, she "can't say whether we will have a joint vote or whether we will get into a situation where we will have annual tranches in the future."
BRUSSELS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Thursday warned against an EU with a deficit as the Union's top leaders are locked in sensitive negotiations over the 27-member bloc's 2014-2020 budget scheme.
The seven-year budget could be set at roughly 960 billion euros (1.3 billion U.S. dollars), while actual payments would fall short by around 50 billion euros to accommodate the Britain's scream for spending cuts, Schulz said in a press conference here on Thursday night. Full story
BRUSSELS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Top leaders of the European Union (EU) are facing tough negotiations over the bloc's seven-year budget scheme as they arrive on Thursday for a two-day special summit in Brussels.
It will be the second time for EU leaders to focus on budget bargaining, since the first budget summit last November achieved little largely due to sharp conflicts of national interest among EU members. Full story
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