Funding cut hailed as win for austerity

For the first time in its 56-history, the EU agreed to cut its budget, a move hailed by austerity-focused northern countries as a victory and by others as a case of European’s being the losers.

The total ceiling was set at €960bn over seven years, which is less than 1% of the EU’s gross national income and 94% of the money either returns to the member states or is spent on common projects.

Member state leaders that had made a domestic battleground of the EU’s budget fought for more than 24 hours over what amounted to less than 0.0003% of the EU’s combined wealth to cut the spend.