EU budget: Member states push back detailed discussions

EU leaders appear to have postponed detailed discussions on the bloc’s next long-term budget, including a decision on whether to generate extra revenue by taxing plastic packaging waste, an idea that has become increasingly popular among member states.

Draft conclusions for this week’s European Council call on the Finnish presidency of the EU Council to submit a “negotiating box” setting out provisional figures for the next budget, known as the multi-annual financial framework (MFF), ahead of a summit in December.