EU budget talks will be 'very difficult': Merkel

“We can't say yet whether the talks will succeed. I only know that the negotiations will be very difficult,” Merkel said in her weekly podcast broadcast on her website.

The comments came as EU leaders are preparing to meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a second attempt at finding a deal on the 27-nation bloc's 2014-2020, trillion-euro budget after failing to clinch an agreement at a summit in November.

Merkel, who is seeking a third term in office this year, said she “would do everything to reach an agreement.”

But Merkel added that Germany, one of the largest net contributors to the EU budget, had its own interests to defend in the discussions, and she argued for measures that would make the bloc “more competitive and efficient.”

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