Irish, Finnish leaders arrive at EU Summit

European Union's leaders arrived at the European Council on Monday for the fourth day of negotiations over an unprecedented 1.85 trillion-euro (US$2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund.

Ahead of the summit, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin told reporters that the package proposed is unprecedented, but Ireland will do everything possible to ensure that a ''package of this scale is delivered.''

All nations agree they need to band together but the five richer countries in the north, led by the Netherlands, want strict controls on spending, while struggling southern nations like Spain and Italy say those conditions should be kept to a minimum.

Even with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel negotiating as the closest of partners, the traditionally powerful Franco-German alliance could not get the quarreling nations in line.

At a dinner on Sunday night, the leaders mulled a proposal from the five wealthy northern nations that suggested a coronavirus recovery fund with 350 billion euros (US$400 billion) of grants and the same amount again in loans.

The five EU nations - nicknamed "the frugals" - had long opposed any grants at all, while the EU executive had proposed 500 billion euros (US$570 million).