EU comes to budget agreement

The European Union (EU) has announced it has agreed a budget for the next seven years.

It was revealed by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that member states and European Parliament leaders worked together on the budget agreement, which is set to run from 2014 to 2020.

Real spending is to be cut for the first time, with the budget having been set at 960 billion euros (£822 billion).

Mr Barroso suggested in a speech that the deal would speed up spending on youth employment across the continent.

But unemployed Czech graduate Dagmar Hvizdosova told the BBC that the situation remains so dire that it is "impossible" to find a job straight after school.

"In addition, the bachelor degree is underrated – it now has the same or possibly less value as secondary education about 10 years ago," he said.

Data recently revealed that unemployment in France is up to its highest point in 15 years.

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