EU nations close in on $2.1 trillion budget, coronavirus recovery fund

"An extraordinary situation demands extraordinary efforts," German Chancellor Angela Merkel says

Weary European Union leaders finally were closing in on an unprecedented 1.82 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, somehow finding unity after four days and as many nights of fighting and wrangling over money and power in one of their longest summits ever.

To confront the biggest recession in its history, officials said the EU had as good as a consensus on a 750 billion euro coronavirus fund to be sent as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the virus.