EU top official: Budget cuts are ‘difficult pill to swallow’

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission’s president says that planned cuts in the next long-term budget of the 27-nation bloc are a “difficult pill to swallow.” In a speech at the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the budget deal for the next seven years adopted by EU leaders this week features many inadequacies. The budget worth 1.07 trillion ($1.2 trillion) was negotiated in tandem with a 750 billion-euro ($868 billion) economic recovery packag