- German Chancellor Angela Merkel
After marathon talks in Brussels European Union leaders agreed on a deal on the bloc's next seven-year budget. The new deal was announced by European Council President Herman van Rompuy, and it includes up to 908 billion euros in forecast payments, which will be spent between 2014 and 2020. The budget, which amounts to around 1% of the overall European Union GDP, still must be approved by the European Parliament and it will be the first net reduction to the EU's long-term budget in the bloc's history. However, the long-term budget is about to end and it will reflect the region's gloomy economic backdrop and represent a victory for the countries like Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, which favour fiscal restraint.
"Deal done!" said Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council and chairman of the summit, in a message posted on Twitter, saying that the agreement had secured a budget until the end of the decade. "Worth waiting for," the message added.
"We have to be careful with the way we spend, but also show solidarity between net contributors and recipients," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters, referring to those who pay the most towards the budget and those who get the most back from it.
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