EU budget summit breaks up without agreementNovember 23, 2012 - 20:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Brussels summit on the EU budget has ended without agreement, BBC News reported. EU leaders are taking a short break before returning to draft a statement on when to meet and what to do next. News conferences are expected later on Friday, November 23 sources at the summit say. Hours of talks on the 2014-2020 budget failed to bridge big gaps between the richer countries and those whose economies rely most on EU funding. The UK said current EU spending levels must be frozen. The EU's government grouping, the European Council, believes it may still reach a deal early in the new year, the BBC's Chris Morris reports from Brussels. But it is hard to see how that may happen because the divisions are very clear and have become even more stark at a time of economic crisis, our Europe correspondent says. Summit chairman Herman Van Rompuy had reshuffled the allocations in his original proposed budget during the summit, but he kept in place a spending ceiling of 973bn euros (£783bn; $1.2tn). With the eurozone's dominant states, Germany and France, unable to agree on the budget, UK Prime Minister David Cameron warned against "unaffordable spending". Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Titus, Bilirakis lead legislation to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced the bipartisan legislation. Azerbaijan must respect human rights, Scholz tells Aliyev German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for greater respect for human rights in Azerbaijan. Armenia: Defense Ministry warns against involving army in political processes The Ministry’s statement came after a video surfaced online, showing soldiers joining the protests in Tavush. Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. |