European Union negotiators clinch deal on huge budget, coronavirus plan

After months of wrangling, European Union negotiators reached an agreement Tuesday on the bloc's next seven-year budget and a coronavirus support package worth a total of some 1.8 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion), which could enter force early next year.

The deal, clinched between European Council negotiators representing the EU's 27 member countries and the European Parliament, must still officially be endorsed by the bloc's ministers and the full EU legislature. The budget is meant to take effect on Jan. 1.

We have finally made it, Germany's EU envoy, Michael Clauss, said. We urgently need the recovery fund up and running in order