The 1 trillion-euro fight: EU leaders wrangle over spending

BRUSSELS (AP) — Everything is set for the EU's bruising trillion-euro summit.

Leaders from the European Union's 27 countries are flying in to Brussels on Thursday to discuss the bloc's spending plan for the next seven years now that Britain has left.

Diplomats and number crunchers have been working on the budget for years but the issues are so divisive that the leaders' summit might last into Saturday and still end without a result.

The EU nations need to regroup after Britain's departure three weeks ago, and a show of unity on their common budget could help in that regard. Forget it.

Britain's exit means the loss of up to 75 billions euros ($81 billion) in net contributions to the budget, and how to make up for that is causing friction. Leaders of rich nations don't want to have to pay more into that common EU pot, and those from poorer member states are angry at the prospect of receiving less money from the EU.

Even if a trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) sounds like a lot, it actually amounts to about 1% of the gross national income of the 27 nations combined. The debate is over some 0.3 percentage points.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is usually cautious in her remarks, said bluntly that for her country, the EU's biggest, “in many places our concerns have not yet been sufficiently taken into account."

It’s not just about convincing reluctant member countries to stump up funds. The European Parliament must also ratify any final budget agreement and the EU lawmakers are not happy.

“At the moment, we remain 230 billion euros ($248 billion) apart," European Parliament President David Sassoli said this week.

After a series of one-to-one meetings with national leaders in recent weeks, with some lasting three hours, European Council President Charles...