EU leaders locked horns over everything from climate rules to migration policy and Ukraine’s long-term financial needs during two days of tense discussions in Brussels. But despite calls for urgent action, the main takeaway from Thursday and Friday’s European Council summit is that key decisions have been delayed to a later date. With elections looming in Spain and France, and as leaders’ positions seem more entrenched than ever, nothing of substance was put down in ink. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who made the trip to Belgium, did not receive much more than warm embraces and kind words. Speaking to journalists during a packed news conference, Ukraine’s wartime leader urged his European counterparts to come up with a financial plan or risk facing an unprecedented migration crisis with “20 million Ukrainians” fleeing to Europe. “The war will cost €155 billion next year. And we need at least €70 billion more from you — for defense, for weapons, and for our resilience,” Zelenskyy said. “This is a realistic amount. And I ask you to find this support. It will help us hold Russia back.”  But two diplomats told POLITICO that capitals would continue exploring a range of options to meet Kyiv’s needs, including a potential further loan from the EU.  A debate over whether to mobilize some €300 billion in Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine is a case in point. Nearly a year after EU leaders rejected using the assets amid objections from Belgium, France and Italy, several countries have asked for the option to be revisited, and top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas had said frozen assets would be on the table when leaders met in Brussels. But after hours of talks about Ukraine, “nothing has changed,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “The money is not lost but in my belief nothing has happened since we had the discussion last time.” “In the short term, money to support Ukraine must come from other sources than the frozen assets,” he concluded. Two EU diplomats told POLITICO that the European Commission and EU capitals were working on other financing options, including seeking funds from Ukraine’s non-EU allies, mobilizing as yet untapped EU funds and drawing up another joint EU loan to complement the €90 billion loan they agreed on last year.  The leaders “didn’t spend a lot of time” trying to come up with a plan to fund Ukraine in 2027, after Zelenskyy said his country would face a €70 billion budget hole next year, European Council President António Costa said. “We agreed immediately that we need to address the additional needs of financing Ukraine in 2027 and asked Commission to come up with concrete proposal.” Yet leaders declined to endorse any of those options during news conferences at the end of the summit. MONEY TALKS DRAG ON The gathering had also been billed as a chance for leaders to break a months-old deadlock over the size and shape of the EU’s nearly €2 trillion long-term budget. French President Emmanuel Macron, who leaves office next year ahead of a presidential election in April and June, warned leaders that he would no longer have a political mandate to ink a deal if no deal was concluded by the end of this year. But despite hours of talks on Thursday, neither the frugal camp led by Germany — which advocates a smaller budget — nor the “Friends of Cohesion” group calling for a larger envelope had made any substantial step toward each other. “I think [a decision] is possible by the end of the year,” Macron told journalists at the summit’s conclusion, adding that failure to strike a deal this year would not “be a good method from a democratic standpoint.” Instead, leaders spent much of the two-day summit trying to gain a tactical upper hand over rivals on EU climate rules and migration policy. TRENCH WARFARE A push led Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to water down an emissions trading scheme known as ETS2 hijacked discussions for hours on Thursday. But despite wider support for Tusk’s position than at previous summits, it was easily defeated by countries that support the current scheme. On migration, Denmark, Italy and Poland led a determined effort to harden the EU’s position, proposing tweaks to the summit’s conclusions that would have explicitly linked irregular migration to crime rates and branded the phenomenon a threat to the cohesion of European societies. The proposal, which ultimately won support from a group of around 10 countries including Hungary, according to two EU diplomats, also indirectly took aim at Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to regularize some 1 million irregular migrants has sparked clashes with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen.  Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the Commission would put forward an emergency response framework before the end of the year to allow EU countries to respond to a sudden mass movement, such as the one that caused chaos in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta over the summer. But the effort led by Meloni and Frederiksen ended in defeat, with the proposed paragraphs deleted from the summit’s final conclusions, which only contained a truncated version. Macron criticized the discussions on migration, saying they had been excessively “politicized.” “It was a bad debate because it has been highly politicized and it has been a major source of division around the table,” the French president said.

This was supposed to be an EU summit about the EU’s long-term budget. But things are never easy for EU leaders, and world events have a nasty habit of making their way onto the itinerary. That meant this European Council had a lot more on the agenda than the last handful of summits, at least: Energy, migration, enlargement, Ukraine, and more besides were covered — and very little, if anything, was decided. Have FOMO because you weren’t there? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s POLITICO’s rapid roundup of what we learned at the European Council. 1) ENERGY STOLE THE SHOW RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE The summit’s first major clash came Thursday morning, with EU leaders split over whether to delay ETS2, the bloc’s second phase of carbon pricing, to address high energy prices, triggering a three-hour-long standoff. Italy and Greece joined the Visegrád Four — Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — in calling for a delay, a push rejected by the majority of countries. The debate dragged on, delaying lunch (spare a thought for our hungry leaders!) and leading to the cancellation of a press conference on Thursday night. 2) BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS ARE A MARATHON… Negotiations on the bloc’s next long-term budget were expected to be one of the summit’s most contentious topics. But they were a nothingburger, with most leaders repeating positions they have held for months. The summit brought them no closer to a breakthrough. Many countries, of course, want a smaller budget, with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson telling reporters that his country is “not an ATM for the EU.” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, meanwhile, said he had no choice but to be frugal at the European level, arguing he is used to tightening his belt at home because his wife is Dutch. Think of Bart next time your Dutch friends ask you to pay them back for that coffee. 3) … AND A SPRINT European Council President António Costa is still aiming to get a budget deal before the end of the year, according to two EU officials. He announced that leaders will hold a special summit at the end of November to try and make progress (and there’s a December summit too). But that timing leaves them up against the clock to reach a deal by year’s end. See you all back here on Nov. 26! 4) EU LEADERS MAY NEED TO BRING EXTRA LUGGAGE NEXT TIME If leaders do hope to agree on the EU’s long-term budget this year, they should prepare for long negotiations in November and December. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested the pre-Christmas summit could last longer than the scheduled two days. “For the December summit, we should pack a few more shirts than usual,” he said. Gulp! 5) YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY TO CYPRUS MIGHT BE A LITTLE EASIER Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters he hopes EU leaders will discuss his country’s bid to join the Schengen travel zone at the December summit. “All technical preparations have already been completed, and we hope that the matter will be discussed by the relevant council in December so that the final political decisions can be made,” he said. 6) ROSE-COLORED GLASSES HAVE COME OFF WHEN IT COMES TO COSTA European Council President António Costa drew the ire of some leaders over his handling of negotiations to curb high energy prices, which had become a “mess,” three EU diplomats told POLITICO, with another two diplomats saying that leaders were fuming at Costa for allowing talks to go off the rails. 7) DRINK (A LITTLE) LESS BEER TO HELP UKRAINE Ahead of the summit, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told reporters that supporting Ukraine costs each European the equivalent of one beer a year. “That one beer is just a cost [for EU citizens]. There, it’s a cost of life. We drink less, their lives are saved,” he said. “Simple as that.” He didn’t say whether he meant a beer bought in Stockholm or Prague. As anyone in Belgium knows, not all beers are created equal — or cost the same. 8) THE EU PARLIAMENT WANTS YOU TO KNOW IT MATTERS TOO The European Parliament’s two lead negotiators on the EU budget made the rounds of the press room to make sure journalists heard their views. Siegfried Mureșan (of the European People’s Party) and Carla Tavares (Socialists and Democrats) both stressed that the Parliament’s position is important. Meanwhile, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola joined leaders for the first part of the summit. Metsola said she had made it clear to them that “the Parliament is not a rubber-stamp and never will be.” 9) TALKING CHINA (WITHOUT MENTIONING CHINA) Leaders discussed trade imbalances (read: China) over lunch on Thursday and welcomed the deal the European Commission struck with China last week to curb imports of Chinese hybrid vehicles. Czech PM Andrej Babiš even went so far as to call the deal “fantastic.” POLITICO scooped that the European Commission is expected to work on trade measures tackling imports of chemicals and industrial machinery in an effort to protect European industry from unfair Chinese competition. 10) NEW BROMANCE BREWING Hungarian PM Peter Magyar posted a late-night selfie with Dutch PM Rob Jetten on social media after day one of the summit. The two were all smiles and “tired, but not sad”, as Magyar put it in his tweet. In reaction to the tweet, Jetten told reporters, “We are more or less of the same generation and a tad more direct and pragmatic than some colleagues in the European Council, so there’s a click.” > We started at 7:30 this morning in Brussels. The second shift begins after 10 > PM, with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten @MinPres. > Tired, but not sad. pic.twitter.com/dmtSMbqG4m > > — Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) October 15, 2026 11) BACK TO THE CASTLE António Costa announced that another competitiveness summit at Alden Biesen castle in the Belgian countryside will take place in February 2027, three EU diplomats told POLITICO. Leaders already visited the castle earlier this year, and they clearly loved the Belgian countryside so much they want to return (or Costa is forcing them to go). 12) STILL REELING FROM CEUTA Ahead of Friday’s talks, 16 EU leaders met to discuss migration over breakfast (before discussing migration over lunch with everyone else). According to one EU diplomat, leaders broadly agreed that the EU should be able to suspend asylum applications when faced with a sudden influx of migrants that may have been engineered on purpose. But would that mean the EU will implement pushbacks (which are banned under EU law)? 13) DENMARK, ITALY AND POLAND WANT TO BE TOUGHER ON MIGRATION The three leaders joined forces to argue that migration is a concern for many EU citizens and is contributing to rising crime rates. That caused a delay to an already shockingly long summit. 14) THERE WERE SOME AGREEMENTS Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez found some time on the sidelines of the summit to chat about Rome’s restrictions on Spanish nationals sparked by the Ceuta crisis. Plus, France and Germany said they had struck a deal to favor European-made cars under the Industrial Accelerator Act in exchange for weakening a 2035 vehicle emissions target, ending months of wrangling between the bloc’s two biggest economies. 15) EU LEADERS GET THE GOOD STUFF TO EAT Thursday’s lunch menu featured a “full-flavored vegetable jus.” Not a little flavor, not a medium amount of flavor, but the full flavor. Then on Friday there was a “rich jus”. There was also a Champagne sauce. Only the best for our leaders! 16) THE SAME CAN’T BE SAID FOR REPORTERS Some POLITICO journalists lamented the lack of vegetarian options at the Council canteen. Pray for us. 17) NO HARSH WORDS FROM EU TO ZELENSKYY At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked whether EU leaders had expressed annoyance at his recent tone toward U.S. President Donald Trump. The question followed reports that some capitals were frustrated with him and worried he was further riling the White House. But it was all love from Zelenskyy, who said there had been no harsh words during his time in the summit room. “I heard from my European colleagues support and only support, and I’m grateful for this,” he said. 18) NO HUGS FOR FICO As Zelenskyy entered the European Council building, he was seen hugging and kissing fellow leaders — with one exception: Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico received no hug. That may well have been because Slovakia is preparing to revive a dormant cooperation forum with Moscow. 19) 20M UKRAINIANS COULD FLEE TO EUROPE IF RUSSIA WINS WAR Zelenskyy issued a stark warning to Europe: if Russia wins the war, as many as 20 million Ukrainians could be forced to flee to Europe. Over 4 million Ukrainians already live in EU countries under temporary protection status, according to Eurostat.  20) EU LEADERS HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT BRITAIN … OR HAVE THEY? There was plenty of talk across the Channel this week about the U.K. potentially rejoining the bloc, but the subject did not come up at the summit, even with an EU-U.K. summit due next month. EU leaders have more pressing issues on their minds. Still, some had things to say about the U.K.’s relationship with the EU. Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “all our friends are welcome to join,” naming Britain alongside Canada, Norway and Iceland as partners seeking closer ties. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs suggested the U.K. “should come back to the family,” although he also said that Russia “had its hands on Brexit.” 21) AT POLITICO, WE SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST Covering European Councils often involves a lot of waiting around, but during this summit conditions were a little tougher because of a phantom farter among reporters waiting for Zelenskyy’s press conference. POLITICO went viral in Brussels’ diplomatic and journalistic circles for reporting the hard facts on our live blog. While this summit’s agenda was packed, in the end not many concrete decisions were taken. Some might say the summit was a load of hot air.

BRUSSELS ― Slovakia’s prime minister told EU leaders at a summit last week that a meeting with Donald Trump left him shocked by the U.S. president’s state of mind, five European diplomats briefed on the conversation said. Robert Fico, one of the few EU leaders to frequently support Trump’s stance on Europe’s weaknesses, was concerned about the U.S. president’s “psychological state,” two of the diplomats said. Fico used the word “dangerous” to describe how the U.S. president came across during their face-to-face meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Jan. 17, according to two of the diplomats. The conversation between Fico and his European counterparts took place in Brussels on Jan. 22 on the sidelines of an emergency EU summit arranged to discuss transatlantic relations in the wake of Trump’s threats to seize Greenland. Leaders used that gathering to try to calm tensions after the U.S. president walked back his threat to slap tariffs on some European countries over the issue a day earlier. The Slovak prime minister made his remarks in a separate informal huddle between some leaders and chief EU officials rather than during the formal roundtable talks, the diplomats said. While none of the diplomats who spoke to POLITICO were present, individual leaders briefed them separately on the content of the conversation shortly after it. All the diplomats were granted anonymity by POLITICO to allow them to discuss the confidential exchanges between leaders. They come from four different EU governments. The fifth is a senior EU official. All of them said they didn’t know the details of what Trump had said to Fico that had triggered his reaction. Fico’s comments are especially pertinent because he’s among Europe’s most pro-Trump politicians, touting his access to the U.S. president in a Facebook video after the Mar-a-Lago meeting and voicing support for Washington’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war. A year ago, Fico spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and told Americans “your president is doing Europe a great service.” Spokespeople for Fico did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said: “This is absolutely total fake news from anonymous European diplomats who are trying to be relevant. The meeting at Mar-a-Lago was positive and productive.” A senior administration official who was in the meeting with Trump and Fico, granted anonymity to describe the conversation, said they couldn’t recall any awkward moments or off-key exchanges. They said the meeting, which Fico had requested, was pleasant, normal and included some lighthearted exchanges that were captured by a White House photographer. Fico seemed to be “traumatized” by his encounter with Trump, one of the European diplomats said. Fico characterized Trump as being “out of his mind,” a diplomat said, using the words briefed to them by their leader, who was directly involved in the conversation. DEEP CRISIS Fico’s private concerns contrast with the public account of his Mar-a-Lago visit that he gave via his official Facebook post. In that video, Fico said his invitation to Trump’s Florida residence was a sign of “high respect and trust” from the U.S. president. The two leaders discussed Ukraine as well as their shared view that the EU was in “deep crisis” during what Fico called “informal and open talks.” Fico, who signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal with Washington while on his trip to the U.S., did not mention Trump’s claims on Greenland or his operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier in January in the video. He said discussions had focused on issues including Ukraine, asserting that Washington sought his view because Slovakia is “not a Brussels parrot” — meaning that it does not echo the positions of EU institutions. Robert Fico characterized Donald Trump as being “out of his mind,” a diplomat said, using the words briefed to them by their leader, who was directly involved in the conversation. | Shawn Thew/EPA Even without Fico’s remarks, Europe’s leaders and senior officials are increasingly concerned about the U.S. president’s “unpredictability,” according to a sixth EU diplomat, who was not briefed directly by a leader on last week’s conversation. Fears about the U.S. president’s health are “rapidly becoming a more conversed topic at all levels,” said an EU official who is involved in political discussions in Brussels and between capitals. Trump, 79, has repeatedly and forcefully denied that he suffers from any condition affecting his cognition, telling New York Magazine this week that he doesn’t suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. ‘I WON’T DO THAT, OK?’ Ever since Trump returned to office a year ago, European governments have been grappling with how to deal with his positions on issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his administration’s apparent backing for far-right politicians, barriers to free trade, and the U.S. role in the continent’s defense. Earlier this month, Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European countries, including France, Germany and the U.K., which he said were blocking his efforts to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory belonging to Denmark, an EU and NATO member. He also didn’t rule out taking the island by force. In a speech in Davos, Switzerland last Wednesday, the U.S. president demanded “immediate negotiations” to obtain Greenland, but ruled out the use of military action. “We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be frankly unstoppable. But I won’t do that, OK?” Trump said in the speech. After the speech, he said he’d agreed on a framework of a deal on Greenland with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and withdrew his threat, although the details of the apparent agreement have still not been made public. At last week’s summit, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the EU’s two most powerful leaders, warned their counterparts that despite that apparent deal, the bloc needed to become less dependent on the U.S. for its security. Speaking after the gathering, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the leaders had learned the lesson that standing up to Trump in a “firm” but “non-escalatory” way was an effective strategy that they should continue.  Jacopo Barigazzi, Camille Gijs and Tom Nicholson contributed reporting.

European leaders descend on Brussels this evening for a crunch summit with the transatlantic relationship top of their agenda. U.S. President Donald Trump backed down Wednesday from his most belligerent threats about seizing Greenland from Denmark, but that hasn’t assuaged European concerns about America’s posture toward Europe. It’s another busy day in Davos too, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaking and Trump potentially set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And if that wasn’t enough, Trump’s everything envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to the Kremlin for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Whew. Strap in.

WHEN POLITICIANS SAY THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD As Kaja Kallas’ unguarded comments showed, wisecracks and slips of the tongue often reveal far more than a carefully crafted speech. By GABRIEL GAVIN Illustration by Natália Delgado/POLITICO When Hungary’s Viktor Orbán arrived at an EU summit in 2015, Jean-Claude Juncker said “the dictator is coming” and greeted him with a playful slap to the face. The then-European Commission president’s jab was a revealing glimpse into a political dynamic usually kept behind closed doors, or even just in leaders’ heads. Whether gaffe or veiled signal, the stunt sparked discussions about Hungary’s democratic backsliding. When everything they say is scrutinized and every statement twisted by political opponents, politicians have learned the need to keep quiet, to polish their communications and stay diplomatic. But under extraordinary pressure, in private or as a joke, the mask slips — betraying more than carefully worded speeches ever will. On Wednesday, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas summed up what many were thinking when she quipped privately that the state of the world makes it a “good moment” to start drinking. She might not have intended it as a serious assessment, but it offered a telling insight: Europe’s representative on the global stage thinks things are looking pretty dire. Some asides distill political truths that stand the test of time. Juncker’s declaration that European leaders “all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we’ve done it” came to be known as the “Juncker curse,” shorthand for the electoral challenges faced by reformist governments. “Advisers and communications people often try to stage-manage everything a politician says. But leaders are human and sometimes they just say what they’re thinking — either in jest or as the pressure of the job gets to them,” said Louis Rynsard, a former political adviser in the U.K. House of Commons and co-founder of Milton Advisers. “The instinctive reaction is ‘oh, dear God, what just happened,’ but nine times out of 10 political leaders being human works better than all the beautiful crafted PR lines ever could. For the one out of 10, you just have to hope no one was listening.” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris early this month. De Wever, hailed as Europe’s funniest leaders, likes to use “dark humor” to get his point across. | Teresa Suarez/EPA For those living in a world of secrets, what they laugh about can reveal their attitudes to things they can’t openly discuss. “There’s only so much politicians can carry around with them and you get this sort of leakage of ideas, things that have been half thought-through,” said Ashley Weinberg, senior lecturer at the University of Salford and author of The Psychology of Politicians. Britain’s royal family is famously measured in its communications. Yet King Charles was uncharacteristically frank when he welcomed his first prime minister, Liz Truss, to a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace in 2022, just as her proposed budget threw the markets into turmoil. “Back again? Dear, oh dear,” he smiled. Truss resigned 12 days later. According to political psychologist Ramzi Abou Ismail, those kinds of wisecracks can be “a way to pass on messages in a soft way, sort of saying ‘oh I don’t really mean it — unless you agree.'” Diplomats who have been in high-stakes international negotiations told POLITICO they’re often more jovial than people realize, an antidote to the anxiety that comes with high politics. “People would be surprised how often jokes get cracked in tense diplomatic situations and the whole room relaxes a bit and realizes they’re dealing with a human being,” said Chris Fitzgerald, a former British diplomat posted to Brussels during the Brexit negotiations. “The best lines are often those that are unscripted, and even better if they show you understand the culture of your interlocutor.” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, often hailed as the continent’s funniest leader, said after a European Council that he likes a well-timed quip using “dark humor” to get his point across. Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who earned a reputation for landing political zingers, said absurd political situations just call for laughter. “When you see what is happening in the world, just being serious about it doesn’t feel like it’s enough any more, you feel like the best way to engage with it is to show the absurdity,” he said. But “it’s not always a polished strategy,” said one EU diplomat, who has attended hundreds of sit-downs with counterparts in Brussels. “These meetings are often long and boring and you see an opportunity to make people laugh. Sometimes it lands and makes you look human, other times it backfires and causes problems.” That’s a balancing act U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Iceland flubbed last week, sparking a diplomatic crisis by joking his new host country would become a U.S. state at a time when the White House has been piling on pressure to seize Greenland. Ismail, the political psychologist, credits Trump with having stretched the boundaries of political norms so far that otherwise austere figures in Europe and elsewhere feel freer to speak frankly. “Trump didn’t just change the norms when it comes to political communication, the guy collapsed the boundaries between what is considered private cognition and public speech,” he said. European politicians are also realizing the value of being less polished. One EU official said the bloc’s institutions “have a notorious humor deficit,” which is an increasing disadvantage when it comes to getting Europe’s message out “in the era of the social media-effective Trumpian soundbite” and of a public that values plain speech. The jocular approach has been championed by Olof Gill, the European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, who uses daily televised podium appearances to crack jokes and take swipes at rivals and reporters alike. “The value of the Commission’s midday press briefing as a live piece of political theater is substantial, and within that theater, humor can be a very useful device to take the sting out of a difficult question or highlight the absurdity of a political viewpoint,” he said. For his part, Orbán seemed to recognize the nature of the game when branded a dictator by Juncker. “Hungarians talk straight about tough things,” he said. “We don’t like to beat about the bush. We are a frank people.” These moments will only happen more frequently at a time when the established global order is collapsing — and leaders can often do little but laugh, Ismail said. “There’s also a sort of psychological adaptation to permanent crises in politics of the kind we’ve had for the past five years,” he said. “Leaders will be feeling crisis fatigue and this gives room for some humor, some irony, because it sort of breaks the pattern.” “Think of it as a valve, and then the humor just sort of releases the pressure.” Mari Eccles contributed reporting.

BRUSSELS — The EU is considering far-reaching trade measures — including €93 billion worth of tariffs against the U.S. — to deter Donald Trump from trying to wrest control of Greenland, according to eight diplomats and officials. During a three-hour meeting in Brussels on Sunday, diplomats from the bloc’s 27 governments underscored the importance of readying tangible options to fight back against Trump in case talks with Washington over the coming week don’t lead to a swift resolution, the officials said. The talks were hastily arranged after the U.S. president threatened 10 percent tariffs from Feb. 1, rising to 25 percent on June 1, on six EU countries plus the U.K. and Norway, which he considers to be standing in the way of his designs on the Artic territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. As the sense of crisis grows, European Council President António Costa said he would call a summit of EU leaders this week. “It’s clear that a line has been drawn and enough is enough,” said one diplomat with knowledge of Sunday’s talks. “But at the moment we are discussing options — if Trump’s tariffs are imposed, then then we will be discussing not what options there are but which options to use.” The €93 billion in retaliatory tariffs would be a reactivation of measures that the EU put on hold after the signing of a trade deal with the U.S. in July. Such a move could be taken “very quickly,” compared to some of the other options being discussed, according to a second EU diplomat briefed on the talks. An alternative would be to use the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), the EU’s “trade bazooka,” designed to penalize countries that use their markets as a tool for geopolitical blackmail, several officials said. This is a stronger measure and would come up against some concern from more cautious members of the bloc. Governments did not ask the European Commission to move forward with the deployment of the tool at this stage, according to three diplomats. Before Sunday’s discussions, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Brussels to activate the ACI, which includes restrictions on foreign direct investment and intellectual property protections. Two diplomats said France’s envoy raised the prospect in the room. Macron’s office said in a statement issued while the ambassadors were meeting that the president had spoken with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte, and reaffirmed the importance of a “firm, united, and coordinated European response through the activation of the anti-coercion instrument should the United States carry out its tariff threat.” “There are many ways forward,” said an EU diplomat. “There are other diplomatic and economic possibilities to act. Some can be spoken about publicly, others can’t.” Regardless of which option the EU ultimately chooses, all of the envoys said capitals intended to take their time before deciding on a course of action. “There’s a feeling in Europe that we have to react, that is clear,” said one of the diplomats briefed on the talks. “But also we shouldn’t feel pressure to end up in this tit-for-tat where they say something, we respond, then they respond … we may need two to three days to discuss this to figure out the next stage.” European leaders will meet Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this week. The U.S. president is expected to attend on Wednesday, before the 27 leaders work out their response at the EU summit, which will probably be scheduled for Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the planning. The European Parliament on Saturday signaled it wants to freeze the U.S.-EU trade deal, which sets U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU at 15 percent in exchange for the bloc not applying levies on American exports.

The Italian government is satisfied with new funding promised by Brussels to European farmers and is signaling that it may cast its decisive vote in favor of the EU’s huge trade deal with the Latin American Mercosur bloc. Ahead of Friday’s vote by EU member countries, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Rome was happy with the European Commission’s efforts to make the deal more palatable. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida also said the accord represented an opportunity — especially for food exporters. “Italy has never changed its position: We have always supported the conclusion of the agreement,” Tajani said on Wednesday evening. Yet they stopped short of saying outright that Italy would vote in favor of the deal. Instead, within sight of the finish line, Rome is pressing to tighten additional safeguards to shield the EU farm market from being destabilized by any potential influx of South American produce. Rome’s endorsement of the accord, which has been a quarter century in the making and would create a free-trade zone spanning more than 700 million people, is crucial. A qualified majority of 15 of the EU’s 27 countries representing 65 percent of the bloc’s population is needed. Italy, with its large population, effectively holds the casting vote. France and Poland are still holding out against a pro-Mercosur majority led by Germany — but they lack the numbers to stall the deal. If it goes through, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could fly to Paraguay to sign the accord as soon as next week. The bloc’s other members are Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. ‘AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY’ Italy praised a raft of additional measures proposed by the Commission — including farm market safeguards and fresh budget promises on agriculture funding — as “the most comprehensive system of protections ever included in a free trade agreement signed by the EU.” Tajani, who as deputy prime minister oversees trade policy, has long taken a pro-Mercosur position. He said the deal would help the EU diversify its trade relationships and boost “the strategic autonomy and economic sovereignty of Italy and our continent.” Even Lollobrigida, who has sympathized in the past with farmers’ concerns on the deal, is striking a more positive tone. At a meeting hosted by the Commission in Brussels on Wednesday, Lollobrigida described Mercosur as “an excellent opportunity.” The minister, who is close to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and is from her Brothers of Italy party, also said its provisions on so-called geographical indications would help Italy promote its world-famous delicacies in South America. It would mean no more ‘Parmesão,’” he said, referring to Italian-sounding knockoffs of the famed hard cheese. ONE MORE THING … Lollobrigida said Italy could back the deal if the farm market safeguards are tightened. The EU institutions agreed in December to require the Commission to investigate surges in imports of beef or poultry from Mercosur if volumes rise by 8 percent from the average, or if those imports undercut comparable EU products by a similar margin. Even Francesco Lollobrigida, who has sympathized in the past with farmers’ concerns on the deal, is striking a more positive tone. | Fabio Cimaglia/EPA “We want to go from 8 percent to 5 percent. And we believe that the conditions are there to also reach this goal,” Lollobrigida told Italian daily IlSole24Ore in an interview on Thursday. Meloni pulled the emergency brake at a pre-Christmas EU summit, forcing the Commission to delay the final vote on the deal while it worked on ways to address her concerns around EU farm funding. In response Von der Leyen proposed this week to offer earlier access to up to €45 billion in agricultural funding under the bloc’s next long-term budget. Giorgio Leali reported from Paris and Gerardo Fortuna from Brussels.

BERLIN — A high-ranking German lawmaker belonging to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc issued a simple warning to countries holding up the EU-Mercosur trade agreement: Without such deals, Germany won’t be able to pay more into EU coffers. “Germany is an export nation, from which, incidentally, all other EU countries also benefit,” Sepp Müller, deputy chairman of Merz’s conservative parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said on Wednesday when asked about the leverage Germany has in ongoing negotiations over the trade deal with the Latin American bloc. “If Germany does not return to being a strong export nation, then we will not be able, economically and financially, to bear any further additional burdens for an increasing multi-year financial framework,” he added, referring to the European Commission’s €2 trillion 2028-2034 budget proposal that is now under discussion. “Now Europe must decide: Does it want to put the German economy back on the path to growth and thus support and grow the largest net contributor to the European coffers?” he said. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking in the German Bundestag ahead of an EU summit, exhibited frustration over persisting disagreements that are holding up the Mercosur trade agreement. The agreement, in the works for over 25 years, is within sight of the finish line, but France and Italy are calling for a delay to finalize additional safeguards to protect European farmers from heightened South American competition. Only if they come round will European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen be able to fly to Brazil on Saturday, the day after the EU summit, to sign the deal. “The European Union’s ability to act is also measured by whether, after 26 years of negotiations, we are finally in a position to conclude this trade agreement and thus also to swiftly move forward with the trade agreements negotiated in Mexico and Indonesia,” Merz said. “If in the situation we find ourselves in today, in the times we live in today, we are still haggling over the details of major trade agreements that we as Europeans want to conclude with large economic areas around the world, then those who are doing so still do not properly understand the priorities we are setting now.” Asked about Müller’s comments, the chancellor’s spokesperson, Stefan Kornelius, said: “The government’s policy is to implement Mercosur. The budget is a different matter. A budget only works if we have growth.” Germany contributes around €47 billion to the EU budget annually, corresponding to around 23.6 percent of its funding and over 1 percent of Germany’s gross domestic product. If Germany maintains roughly its current share of the budget, its annual contribution would rise to around €67.3 billion in the next fiscal cycle. Hans von der Burchard contributed to this report.

In one of the most high-pressure summits in years, EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday to discuss whether to grant Ukraine access to frozen Russian assets to bankroll its war effort. Belgium, where most of those assets are held, says no. The stakes couldn’t be higher, so stay with POLITICO for all the latest news and analysis. Scroll down for more…

BRUSSELS — A deal on providing cash to fund Ukraine’s war effort must be struck at a summit of EU leaders this week. That was the message from both Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen hours before the crucial summit starts in Brussels. Both leaders made clear that no decision had been taken on whether to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Addressing the Italian parliament in Rome, Meloni admitted that finding a “sustainable solution” to funding Ukraine’s war effort “will be anything but simple.” Thursday’s summit is crucial for Europe and for Ukraine, and the most pressing, unresolved issue is whether to grant Ukraine access to frozen Russian assets to bankroll its war efforts. Belgium, where the majority of those assets are held, is holding out against using them, fearing it would be on the hook to repay the full amount if Russia attempted to claw back the money. Other countries, Italy included, have also expressed doubts about using the frozen Russian assets. Meloni made it clear Wednesday that Italy has not made a decision on whether to support the use of frozen assets. Italy had “decided not to withhold its support for the regulation establishing the immobilization of Russian assets — though I want to underline clearly that we have not yet endorsed any decision on how to use them,” she said. “We did so despite not agreeing with the method used, to avoid any doubt about Italy’s consistent line of support for Ukraine.” Meloni made it clear that “decisions of such legal, financial and institutional magnitude — including any potential use of frozen assets — must be taken by leaders.” “We believe that if this path [using the frozen Russian assets] is taken, it would be shortsighted to focus attention on a single entity holding frozen Russian sovereign assets — namely Euroclear [which is based in Belgium] — when other partner nations also have immobilized assets in their financial systems.” The Italian prime minister also said she intended to “request clarity on the possible risks linked to the proposal to use the liquidity generated by the immobilization of assets — particularly reputational risks, risks of retaliation, or risks of imposing new burdens on national budgets.” Meloni was not the only leader casting doubt over whether a deal could be struck, or if another way forward would be necessary. Speaking two hours earlier before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said she had “proposed two different options for this upcoming European Council. One based on assets and one based on EU borrowing. And we will have to decide which way we want to take, which route we want to take.” “But one thing is very, very clear. We have to take the decision to fund Ukraine for the next two years in this European Council.” Stressing the need for stronger European defense capabilities, von der Leyen added, “Europe must be responsible for its own security. This is no longer an option. This is a must. We need to be ready.” “There is no more important act of European defense than supporting Ukraine’s defense. The next days will be a crucial step for securing this,” von der Leyen said.