EU leaders to face off in ‘very tough’ budget summit

BRUSSELS — EU leaders gathered on Thursday for a stormy summit to decide the bloc’s seven-year budget, with bitter divisions between parsimonious rich nations, poorer ones wanting to preserve spending and others wanting to fund grand global ambitions. The tussle for money, hard-fought at the best of times, is especially problematic this time around because of Britain’s departure from the EU. The “Brexit gap” caused by the loss of the UK’s contribution is 75 billion euros ($81 billion) over the 2021-2027 period. On the eve of the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had predicted “very tough and difficult negotiations”, with some...