EU leaders set for crucial budget summit

European Union leaders are due to begin a two-day summit in Brussels to try to strike a deal on the next seven years of EU spending.

High EU expenditure at a time of cutbacks and austerity across the continent is the main issue dividing the 27 member states.

They failed to reach a compromise at a similar summit last November.

The BBC's Europe editor Gavin Hewitt says the summit will almost certainly demand cuts in EU administration.

However, whatever is agreed still has to go to the European Parliament and MEPs are big backers of EU spending, he adds.

The EU Commission - the EU's executive body - had originally wanted a budget ceiling of 1.025tn euros (£885bn; $1.4tn) for 2014-2020, a 5% increase. In November that was trimmed back to 973bn euros and later revised down to 943bn euros.

An EU source told BBC News any extra cut would probably be made to growth-related spending in areas such as energy, transport, the digital economy and research.

The biggest spending areas - agriculture and regional development - are largely ring-fenced because of strong national interests, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.