VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : reuters 

European Union leaders failed to agree on a massive stimulus fund to revive their coronavirus-hammered economies on Saturday after two days of fraught negotiations, but extended their summit for another day to try and overcome their differences. As the 27 leaders scurried back to their hotels after a late, inconclusive dinner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron stayed behind in the EU’s headquarters in Brussels to haggle with the Dutch-led camp of thrifty countries demanding cuts to the 1.8 trillion packages. The group of wealthy and fiscally “frugal” northern states — the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden — blocked progress in the first face-to-face EU summit since spring lockdowns across the continent. They favour repayable loans rather than free grants for the hard-hit indebted economies mostly on the Mediterranean rim, and they want stricter control over how the funds are spent//Reuters