EU at Odds Over Budget

Cameron (left) Merkel (right)

Both Britain and Germany held the EU to notice that there would be no deal on the EU's budget, if there weren't more spending cuts.

Sweden and the Netherlands backed them on their calls for deeper cuts of at least thirty billion more.

British Prime Minister David Cameron submitted a plan that would trim EU administrative costs by ten percent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders backed the plan, but it wasn't even considered by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

The EU's total budget is roughly one trillion euros, and the governments have already agreed to eighty billion in cuts.

Countries that put in the most money, are generally from the north, and they're getting tired of seeing most of the money being spent in the poorer southern countries.

It is unclear if the EU will be able to come to a consensus on the budget, during this round of talks.