'Differences too big,' says Merkel as EU budget summit fails

• Even rough data of the new proposal was enough to show that this would not be enough to bridge the differences.
• Unfortunately, today we have observed that it was not possible to reach an agreement.

BRUSSELS: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday the two-day summit of EU leaders failed to agree on the bloc's next budget from 2021.

"The differences were simply too big," she told journalists. "Even rough data of the new proposal was enough to show that this would not be enough to bridge the differences."

The chairman of the summit, Charles Michel said: "Unfortunately, today we have observed that it was not possible to reach an agreement, we have observed that we need more time."