They have ordered officials to begin scoping out potential areas in a bid to find between €20-30 billion in savings. The breakthrough came after talks between Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron, the Netherlands’ Mark Rutte and European Council President Charles Michel. EU sources said the discussion, which was called after almost 24 hours of gridlock, delivered the first chance of a possible deal being struck by leaders.
It is understood that the EU’s budget task force will look at making cuts to areas with increased spending.
European sources said they would focus on shrinking the European Commission’s funds – including its Erasmus education programme and proposals to offer young adults free rail passes.
This could help lower the overall budget ceiling to 1.05 percent of EU Gross National Income.
It is less than the 1.074 percent, or €1.1 trillion, proposed by Mr Michel.
An EU diplomat told Express.co.uk: “Michel was stuck and out of options, so they met up to see what they can do as a starting point.
“The discussion was to drive the process forward and give it new impetus.”
Despite the proposed cuts, this is unlikely to win over the “Frugal Four” – Austria, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands – who are still holding out for one percent.
Mr Michel spent much of the night in bilateral meetings in an attempt to break the impasse over the EU’s 2021-2027 spending plans.
Brexit exposed serious divisions between member states over how to fill the €75 billion black hole in Brussels’ cash coffers left by Britain’s departure.
Leaders hold little hope of striking a deal by the end of the day with formal talks not expected to resume until later this afternoon.
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“The summit is still going on so we cannot speak about the failure, but I have to admit that for the moment positions are not that close to be able to find solutions,” Luxembourg Prime Minster Xavier Bettel said.
“The problem is, if everyone just calculates what he pays and what he gets, then we will never come out.”
“The result has been quite disappointing — I can’t say that progress has been made,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis added.