EU leaders meet for 3rd day on budget, coronavirus fund

Marathon European Union talks to agree an unprecedented 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund entered a third day Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel warning that the summit of 27 leaders could still end without a deal. The bitter negotiations, which are taking place amid the unprecedented crisis of the coronavirus pandemic, have underscored the deep fissures within the 27-nation bloc with the traditional Franco-German alliance struggling to get its way. Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron walked out of heated talks late Saturday with a group of nations led by the Netherlands pushing to limit the amount of grants given to countries whose economies have been hardest hit by the pandemic and to impose strict conditions on how the money is spent.