David Cameron today secured a major victory as leaders agreed a deal to impose the first cut in the European Union's budget in its 56-year history. Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, said the agreement on spending for the rest of the decade had been worth waiting for, declaring on Twitter: 'Deal done!' The budget payments limit from 2014-20 will be reduced by €34billion over the next seven years, from around €942billion to around €908.4billion. Scroll down for video European Council President Herman Van Rompuy used Twitter to reveal that a deal had finally been reached European Council President Herman Van Rompuy used Twitter to reveal that a deal had finally been reached Relief: If the deal gets done David Cameron, pictured leaving for a two-hour break this morning, it will be a blow to critics of his EU strategy Relief: If the deal gets done David Cameron, pictured leaving for a two-hour break this morning, it will be a blow to critics of his EU strategy Mr Cameron has seen off a French-led raid on the 1984 rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher while insisting that Brussels spending falls below less than one per cent of the European economy for the first time in history. Crucially Britain is the only country to see its rebate survive unscathed. Every other nation which receives a block refund from Brussels has suffered a cut, with Austria thought to be losing its rebate altogether. The Netherlands is giving up a large chunk of its rebate while Denmark has secured a rebate for the first time, after threatening to veto the deal entirely. After almost 20 hours of talks that went through the night, proposals were tabled for a deal that slashes EU expenditure.

Leader of the Parliament Martin Schulz has suggested a vote on the deal might be conducted using a secret ballot to maximise the chances of it being rejected -- a proposal described as a 'shocking subversion of democracy' by a British source.

Key to a new strategy will be "public opinion monitoring tools" to "identify at an early stage whether debates of political nature among followers in social media and blogs have the potential to attract media and citizens' interest".

Particular attention needs to be paid to the countries that have experienced a surge in Euroscepticism," said a confidential document agreed last year.
"Parliament's institutional communicators must have the ability to monitor public conversation and sentiment on the ground and in real time, to understand 'trending topics' and have the capacity to react quickly, in a targeted and relevant manner, to join in and influence the conversation, for example, by providing facts and figures to deconstructing myths."

This year MEPs are to increase spending on promoting themselves ahead of European elections next year even as EU countries face an unprecedented period of fiscal austerity.
Spending includes a £9.4 million instalment for a controversial new museum of Europe, an £82 million "House of European History" opening in 2015 to celebrate the EU's "historical memory" and to "promote awareness of European identity".
Under the spending plans, cash for "seminars, symposia and cultural activities" will swell by 85 per cent, £2.5 million. Expenditure on "audio-visual information" will rise by 36 per cent, or £4.3 million.
There will be 15 per cent increase in funding for the EU's political parties, such as the European People's Party (EPP), and spending on the parliament's hi-tech visitor, centre the "parlamentarium", will increase by nine per cent.