EU officials strike deal on €960bn budget

PanARMENIAN.Net - Top European Union officials on Thursday, June 27, hashed out a last-minute deal on a 960 billion euro ($1.3 trillion) budget for the bloc for the next seven years, The Associated Press reports.

The agreement, which includes the first spending cuts in the bloc’s history, still requires parliamentary approval. But it ends months of infighting over the package and hands the recession-hit 27-nation area a proper budget to finance everything from infrastructure and farming subsidies to development aid and employment measures.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced the agreement Thursday after talks with lawmakers and officials representing the EU member states. European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the deal “acceptable” and said he’s “optimistic” that a majority of lawmakers will back it at a vote next week.

The deal came only a few hours before the 27 nations’ heads of state and government were to hold a summit in Brussels to promote, among other initiatives, policies to fight the bloc’s rampant youth unemployment. Without a multi-annual budget in place, these employment schemes could not have been implemented.

The 2014-2020 budget includes the bloc’s first ever spending cuts, as many of the bloc’s countries are in recession and struggling to reduce their own national debt.

“This is a good deal for Europe, this is a good deal for European citizens, this is a good deal for the European economy,” Barroso said. “This is the growth fund for Europe,” he added, noting that it allows for more money to be spent quicker on investment and other projects boosting employment.