BRUSSELS – The leaders of the 27 European Union nations are scheduled to convene in Brussels on Thursday. They aim to deliberate on the imposition of stricter sanctions against Russia, strategies to avert damaging new U.S. tariffs, and avenues for amplifying their influence in Middle Eastern conflicts.
These leaders will be coming from an intense yet brief NATO summit where they committed to significantly increasing defense expenditures and addressed some of the disagreements they had with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate in the EU summit via video link following his meeting with Trump on Wednesday. Although Ukraine’s status was downgraded by NATO from a high priority this week, Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to be a critical issue for the EU.
Members will be discussing an 18th round of sanctions against Russia and whether to maintain a price cap on Russian oil, measures that some nations oppose because it could raise energy prices.
Meanwhile, Trump’s threatened tariffs are weighing on the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member countries. He lashed out at Spain on Wednesday for not spending more on defense and suggested yet more tariffs. France’s president called Trump to task for starting a trade war with longtime allies.
European leaders are also concerned about fallout from the wars in the Middle East, and the EU is pushing to revive diplomatic negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
EU members have internal disagreements to overcome. They are divided over what to do about European policy toward Israel because of its conduct in Gaza. And left-leaning parties are attacking European Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen’s pivot away from the EU’s climate leadership in favor of military investment.
Defense and security are likely to top the agenda. The summit will end with a statement of conclusions that will set the agenda for the bloc for the next four months and can be seen as a bellwether for political sentiment in Europe on major regional and global issues.
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Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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