EU budget talks fail
November 20, 2018
Negotiators from EU member states and the European Parliament failed to seal the 2019 EU budget before a midnight deadline passed on Monday.
The European Commission must now submit a new proposal and talks are expected to resume either later this month or early December.
"Unfortunately no breakthrough possible," Günther Oettinger, the EU's budget commissioner, said in a tweet after the deadline. He said he would "deliver a fresh proposal in a few days to allow sealing the deal by the end of the year."
If there is still no breakthrough, the budget will be updated month-to-month without the expected increase for 2019.
Unresolved issues
The EU parliament proposed a budget of €149.3 billion ($170.2 billion), just over a billion more than the €148.2 billion that member states agreed upon.
The two sides have failed to come together in negotiations in recent weeks. Member states typically seek to limit expenditures while parliament tends to advocate for more spending.
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Among the unresolved issues are aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, and proposed cuts by member states to growth and job-creation programs.
The talks are especially important for Germany. Berlin is the biggest net contributor to the EU, providing around 20 percent of the overall budget.
dv/rt (AFP, dpa)