EU nations end summit without agreement on budget

European Union leaders broke up a marathon budget summit without a deal Friday and their positions were still so far apart that they could not even decide when to meet again.

"I deeply regret this," a disappointed French President Emmanuel Macron said on departure. "I don't think that it can continue this way."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed Macron's statement.

"What has come out of this is that the differences are still too large to come to an agreement," she said. "Unfortunately we had to suspend the summit."

After 28 hours of talks the leaders could not find a compromise, with six wealthy member states - including the so-called 'Frugal Four' of the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria - insisting they would not stump up more funds for the bloc's next long-term spending package, worth around one trillion euros ($1.1 trillion).

Beyond the problems of reconciling rich and poorer member states, a key issue was the financial impact of the UK's departure from the bloc. The UK was a big contributor to the EU budget.

Wealthier members believe the EU's 2021-2027 budget, which is meant to fund ambitious climate change and digital economy policies, should amount to 1% of the bloc's gross national income.

Many poorer member states, and the European Parliament, wanted to stick with a bigger budget of 1.3%.

Giuseppe Conte, the Italian Prime Minister, said as he left Brussels that the EU needed to keep to the higher spending level if it wanted to achieve its ambitious goals.

The tussle over the seven-year budget is almost a tradition in the EU, with long meetings par for the course.

It is an issue though that cannot be pushed forward forever.

Unlike national budgets, the EU's spending plan cannot be temporarily rolled over, based on the terms of the previous seven-year package.

The budget's legal basis would evaporate without an agreement.

From next year, funds to help poorer European regions would disappear and five countries that currently receive rebates - a return on their funds because they contribute more than they receive - would lose that money.

Their contributions would then "skyrocket," EU officials say.