欧盟领导人暂停预算谈判

European Union leaders have suspended their talks over the bloc's new budget after a late-night meeting amid competing demands of member states. The first session of the two-day special summit finished after midnight. Negotiations are expected to resume on Friday.

Smiles for the cameras in Brussels - but few were expecting them to last for long.

EU leaders are holding crunch talks on their budget from 2014-2020.

Agreeing a spending plan is always tough - but this time, the divisions seem deeper.

Over a third of the 27 member states have threatened to use their veto if the talks don’t go to plan.

And British Prime Minister David Cameron is taking a particularly tough stance.

Britain, along with Germany and other main contributors, want the EU to shave some money off the planned 1 trillion euro spending plan.

"We must be able to plan for the future. Therefore it is important we arrive at a solution. I don’t know whether that will happen during Thursday and Friday. Germany wants to reach an agreement, but we might need another go. This is about the sustainability of the European Union and investment in research and development, and better use of the money."

Those who benefit from EU subsidies - like Poland and Spain - don’t want to see any reductions.

And the EU says investment is required to tackle economic troubles.

But explaining that to countries like Greece, undergoing tough austerity, won’t be easy.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said, "Cohesion is an issue of competitiveness, and growth for the whole of the European Union, not just for the countries that have the greatest need."

The leaders here also know they’re still a long way from resolving the euro zone crisis, or even making Greece’s debt sustainable.

Some say "more Europe" is the answer. But if they can’t agree on this budget, many will ask just what they can agree on.