European Union Leaders Battle Over Budget

They're supposed to set a seven-year plan for the troubled almost-but-not-quite super-state

European Union leaders are gathering at a summit in Belgium Thursday to try to reach an agreement on a new seven-year EU budget, with tensions high due to the continuing economic crisis.

The European Commission wants to raise its budget for 2014-2020 to $1.2 trillion—but the proposal has already met fierce opposition from some austerity-stricken member states.

They argue that they're having to make heavy cuts to their own national budgets, so they want to see the EU budget frozen or cut as well. The majority of EU funding comes from contributions from member states.