EU leaders think they’re closing in on a deal for a $2.1 trillion budget and coronavirus recovery fund.

BRUSSELS — On a terrace overlooking the sun-kissed city of Brussels, European Union leaders felt Saturday they were finally closing in on a deal for an unprecedented $2.1 trillion EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, despite tensions running high after months of battling the pandemic.

Heading into a balmy summer evening, a deal was still far off, but several key nations said negotiations were at least heading in the right direction.

Two full days and one night of discussions by the bloc’s 27 leaders oscillated between irritation over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached to a glimmer of hope that somehow a deal could materialize — if not this weekend, then at least at another summit within a few weeks.

“Things are moving in the right direction,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. “It it is of course, as you would expect, a tough struggle, a tough negotiation, but we’re moving in the right direction, and that is the most important thing.”

The summit was supposed to end Saturday but more nighttime negotiations lay ahead for leaders as they dealt with their toughest crisis in years, one that burdened the bloc with its worst recession ever.

EU summit host Charles Michel has proposed a 750-billion euro fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the most needy countries. That comes on top of the seven-year 1-trillion-euro EU budget that leaders were fighting over even before COVID-19 slammed their continent.

Despite the urgency, there were deep rifts between some richer nations in the north, led by the Netherlands, which want strict controls on spending, and struggling southern nations like Spain and Italy, which have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.