A deal on the EU’s budget for 2015 has been reached among the European Parliament and EU governments.
The spending total has been set at €141.2bn (£111.2bn).
Many member states, having instituted austerity programmes at home had been exerting pressure to curb EU spending.
Despite this, they agreed a €3.5bn extra payment for 2014 in order for the EU to pay at least some of its outstanding bills. The full amount still owed is almost €30bn.
With the additional money, the EU’s budget for 2014 was €139bn. The bulk of that is devoted to farm subsidies and grants to the least developed areas in member countries.
The budget deal is expected to be signed off next week.
