Ministers in race to agree EU budgets

EU budgets, including spending on agriculture, were on a knife edge in Brussels yesterday as ministers tried to beat a 72-hour deadline to reach agreement on a range of contentious issues.

Junior Minister in the Department of Finance, Simon Harris, said he was optimistic that a deal would be reached in time, and was especially upbeat on the common agriculture spending.

They were expected to nod through a landmark change to the way member countries’ contributions to the EU budget are organised to resolve a row with the British government that leaves them owing more than €2bn of back payments.