Negative sum games As expected, EU leaders failed to agree the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014-20 at their extraordinary budget summit on November 22-23. Afterwards, the European Council issued a three-part statement that: mandated the Presidents of the Council and the European Commission to keep working towards consensus among the member states; observed that the differences across countries are now small enough that a consensus could be achieved by early in 2013 (thus after the December 2012 European Council summit); and explained that coming to some sort of agreement is important to "jobs and growth in all our countries". <="" li=""> This is not a rallying cry for immediate and decisive action, but it is not a declaration of defeat either. Europe's leaders have kicked the can down the road but it should not be allowed to roll too far. Although the overall amounts are small -- amounting to roughly 1% of
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