The first plenary session of the EU crisis summit, which began with a nearly three-hour delay, lasted only an hour and a half. The forum will resume work in the morning, said the European Parliament President Herman Van Rompuy, the Voice of Russia reported.
Opening the meeting, he said "the summit is going to be long and complicated".
However, EU countries must overcome existing difficulties in the way of adopting a 7-year budget plan for the future of the whole union, believes Van Rompuy. He presented a compromise draft, the principal provision of which is to reduce the size of the new budget by 75 billion euros - to 973 million - compared with what was offered by the European Commission.
A number of countries consider these measures insufficient, while others are convinced that they are excessive.