No breakthrough as EU talks enter 3rd day

The European Union (EU) special summit which aims to decide on the next seven-year budget and a massive recovery fund has dragged on for the third day with no major breakthrough seen until late on Sunday, reported Xinhua.

The summit, the first physical meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU member states since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe, is supposed to seek consensus on the landmark 750 billion-euro (857-billion-U.S.-dollar) recovery package embedded in the over 1 trillion euros 2021-2027 budget.

The summit kicked off here on Friday and was supposed to end on Saturday according to its original schedule.

Spokespersons for the leaders kept updating their twitter accounts with postings of photos, showing EU leaders talking in small groups instead of plenary sessions.

"Day turning into evening, plenary yet to come," tweeted a member of the Finnish group led by the country's Prime Minister Sanna Marin around 6 p.m. local time.

Finland was said to stand close to the Frugal Four, namely the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Sweden, which call for drastic cuts in grants given to the countries hardest hit by the pandemic.