Germany's Merkel warns of summit failure on EU recovery fund

"RUTTE HATES ME"

Late on Saturday, Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron left the day's final stretch of informal talks early, refusing to accept that the level of free grants to ailing economies in the package fall below 400 billion euros.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had earlier accused the Netherlands and its allies Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Finland of "blackmail". Stockholm proposes to cut grants to 155 billion euros.

Macron said there was a willingness to compromise, but it should not deter "from the legitimate ambition that we need to have," referring to the level of money available in the planned 750 billion euro recovery fund, which is to be funded by money raised on capital markets.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who faces parliamentary elections by March 2021, was frank about the divisions with France and Germany on Saturday night. "They walked away annoyed," Rutte said of Merkel and Macron.

Meanwhile, Hungary, backed by its eurosceptic ally Poland, has threatened to veto the package over the rule of law mechanism, supported by the Dutch.

Orban said Rutte had a personal grudge against him. Rutte's office was not immediately available for comment.

"I don't know what is the personal reason for the Dutch prime minister to hate me or Hungary, but he is attacking so harshly ... I don't like blame games but the Dutchman is the real responsible man for the whole mess," Orban told reporters. ($1 = 0.8752 euros)