"The fee should be kept down as much as possible," Löfven said at a press conference in Brussels.

Löfven added that in today's negotiations there are two important parameters - the volume of the budget, but also the size of the discount on the EU fee that Sweden can negotiate.

This is the first time since February that EU leaders have met physically to discuss. Ahead of today's meeting, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has presented a proposal for the budget for the years 2021-2027 of as much as 1077 billion euros and a corona support to the Member States of 750 billion euros, of which 500 billion in loans and 250 billion in grants.

Opinions differ

Opinions between the EU's 27 member states differ widely ahead of the negotiations. Several countries in northern Europe, including Sweden, think that both the budget and the rescue package are too large. But other countries in southern Europe, such as Spain and Italy, think the opposite.

EU leaders now have the weekend to talk to each other. Few believe, however, that the leaders will succeed in agreeing before Sunday, so there may be another meeting later this summer.