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Reuters
This is the first time that EU leaders have come face to face in months.
EU leaders trying to craft a major post-coronavirus economic recovery plan are now on an unscheduled third day of an irritable summit in Brussels.
Some member states believe that the proposed € 750 billion package ($ 857 billion; £ 680 billion) is too large and should come as loans, rather than grants.
Austria said there was still a “way to go”, while Hungary’s prime minister lashed out at his Dutch counterpart.
Germany’s Angela Merkel said an agreement could not be reached on Sunday.
With the impasse still intact on Sunday night, European Council President Charles Michel reminded leaders that 600,000 people had died from the virus worldwide and hoped that “tomorrow’s headline is that the EU has accomplished the impossible mission. “
The third day of talks followed a record one-day increase in new infections worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday that new cases increased by almost 260,000 in 24 hours.
Authorities said this was the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began, and the first time the number of new daily infections has exceeded a quarter of a million. The previous record increase in new confirmed cases was recorded by the WHO just a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 14 million on Saturday, according to a count by the United States-based Johns Hopkins University.
How are the EU talks going?
EU leaders met for the first time on Friday in Brussels to discuss the seven-year budget of the € 1 trillion bloc and the planned stimulus package to help countries regain the pandemic.
It is the first face-to-face meeting between leaders since governments began imposing blockades in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus in March.
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Member states are divided between those most affected by the outbreak and those concerned about the costs of the recovery plan.
Some northern nations like the Netherlands and Sweden have rejected the package, arguing that it should take the form of loans, not grants.
But nations like Italy and Spain are desperate to revive their shattered economies, and have accused the EU of not doing enough to help countries affected by the pandemic. Italy in particular was one of the first European countries to suffer an outbreak and has recorded 35,000 deaths, one of the highest tolls in the world.
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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Europe was “under the blackmail of the” frugal “and described the negotiations as” heated. “
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte of personal revenge and trying to link financial aid with political issues. Orban, and its ally Poland, have threatened to veto the package if it adopts a policy of withholding funds from nations that do not comply with certain democratic principles.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said there was “a way to go” but that an agreement was possible.
Ms Merkel said: “I still cannot say whether we will find a solution. There is a lot of good will but also many different positions.”
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The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, left, with Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, right
Where is Europe with the virus?
Many European nations have ended blocking restrictions, but the virus remains a major threat.
Officials face localized outbreaks across the continent, with the largest appearing in the northeast region of Catalonia in Spain. About four million people in Barcelona, La Noguera and El Segrià were ordered to stay at home for 15 days.
Among the measures imposed are the prohibition of public or private meetings of more than 10 people; prohibition of visits to nursing homes; and the closing of gyms and discotheques.
EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn tweeted a “solemn reminder” on Saturday that the pandemic “was not over.”
“It is time to reach an agreement that allows us to provide the urgently needed support for our citizens and economies,” he wrote.
How is the virus spreading in other parts of the world?
WHO officials said the largest increases in cases on Saturday were in Brazil, India, South Africa and the United States.
Florida is currently the epicenter of the American epidemic. The state recorded more than 10,000 new infections and 90 more deaths on Saturday, bringing its total number of cases to more than 337,000 and its number of deaths to more than 5,000.
In Brazil, where the coronavirus and measures to contain it have been highly politicized, cases continue to rise, although the WHO announced earlier this week that infections were no longer increasing exponentially.
Scientists have also warned that India could still be months away from the peak of its outbreak, despite having the third-highest number of confirmed cases. Hospitals in the hardest hit cities, such as Mumbai and Bangalore, have been overwhelmed by patients.
India recorded another 34,884 infections in a 24-hour period on Saturday and another 671 coronavirus-related deaths.
And South Africa, which saw one of the largest single-day increases in cases, has the highest number of confirmed infections on the African continent.
