Coronavirus: EU leaders agree €1.82trn budget and pandemic recovery fund

European Union leaders have finally agreed a €1.82trn budget and coronavirus recovery fund after four days of sometimes bitter negotiations.

The €750bn (£677bn) coronavirus fund will be used as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the virus .

The remaining money represents the EU budget for the next seven years.

The talks began on Friday between leaders of the 27-nation group, with a divide emerging between those nations hardest hit and those intent on a more "frugal" package of measures.

Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria all pushed back on an initial package of grants worth €500bn (£450bn), reportedly causing Emmanuel Macron , the French president, to bang his fists in anger.

Hard-hit countries, such as Spain and Italy , were asking for a more flexible deal to help them deal with the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

Announcing that a deal had been reached after a gruelling 90 hours of negotiations, president of the European Council, Charles Michel, wrote "Deal!" on Twitter at 3.31am local time (4.31am UK time).

Talks lasted so long that leaders of Ireland and Luxembourg had to briefly leave Brussels to travel home, before returning to the negotiations later on.

Ursula von der Leyen , the European Commission president, told a press conference that the long summit had been "worth it", adding: "Europe as a whole now has a big chance to come out stronger from the crisis".

Mr Macron called the the deal a "historic day for Europe", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "This is an important signal beyond Europe's borders that the EU, even with all the (leaders') varying backgrounds, is able to take action."

Italian leader Giuseppe Conte said the plan "will allow (Europe) to face the crisis with strength and effectiveness."

Mr Conte added that almost 30% of the €750bn (£677bn) recovery fund will be headed to Italy - a country where more than 35,000 people have died.

Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands and one of the so-called "frugal-five", said that despite tough negotiations and disagreements, relations with EU partners remained "strong".

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Europe became the centre of the outbreak in the early stages of the pandemic as strict lockdowns were imposed and tens of thousands of deaths recorded.

More than 135,000 people have died with coronavirus across the EU, with the bloc's economy shrinking by 8.3%.

Now that most countries have significantly eased their lockdowns and stabilised the situation there is a focus on dealing with the huge economic fallout.

Analysis: 'Almost everyone... will be able to claim this as a victory'

By Adam Parsons, Europe correspondent

The remarkable thing about this summit was not the gruelling length, the sniping, or the vociferous, sometimes vicious, arguments, but the fact that a deal came out of it at all.

Yes, this was a compromise, but that was the only way the European Union could possibly have got any kind of agreement. There was no way that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte would have agreed to the initial recovery plan.

Similarly, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron weren't going to give up on it - and with the massive sums at stake, it was inevitable talks would be tough.

So what have we learnt? Certainly that Europe remains politically divided. It's clear that some "frugal" nations, led by Mr Rutte, suspect that grants will be frittered away; that a chance has been missed to push some countries (notably Italy, which will almost certainly get the biggest grant) into confronting endemic corruption.

We can see the nervousness about Poland and Hungary trimming citizens' rights and also that budget rebates, dreamt up by Margaret Thatcher and hated by Mr Macron, are now right back in fashion as a way of buying support.

But ultimately, the take-out from this summit is that Europe has come up with a deal that is unprecedented in the EU's history, and a budget that everyone has signed up to.

And, like all successful deals, almost everyone - from Mr Rutte to Mr Conte and Mr Macron, Mrs Merkel to Mr Orban, as well as EU leaders Charles Michel and Ursula Von der Leyen - will be able to claim this as a victory.