‘Pressure mounts to secure EU budget deal’

Ireland, which enters the last day of its EU presidency, is under “mounting pressure” to secure an EU budget agreement, writes The Irish Times.

Talks to establish greater flexibility in the EU’s seven-year budget “broke down” in a special meeting between Irish and European leaders ahead of today’s EU Council summit in Brussels.

The Dublin daily explains it looks unlikely that a vote scheduled next week at the European Parliament will take place, “which would push final negotiations on the EU’s budget for 2014 to 2020 into the autumn”.