EU leaders strike deal on long term austerity budget

European Union leaders reached agreement on the first ever cut in their common budget today after 24 hours of talks, seeking to placate millions at home struggling through government cutbacks and recession. The expected deal met the demands of northern European countries such as Britain and the Netherlands that wanted belt-tightening, while maintaining spending on farm subsidies and infrastructure to satisfy the likes of France and Poland. It will be the first net reduction to the EU's long-term budget in the bloc's history, representing a decrease of around three per cent on the last budget and shaving spending in areas from infrastructure to administration and scientific research. Last-minute haggling over precisely how to divide up the €960 billion to be spent between 2014 and 2020 drew out the process, before Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council and chairman of the summit, announced that a definitive deal had been struck among the leaders. "Deal done!" he said in a message posted on Twitter, saying that the agreement had secured a budget until the end of the decade. "Worth waiting for," the message added. The deal must now be approved by the European...