Two very different moods filled the Europa building this week. When the talk turned to money, the 27 heads of government barely moved an inch. When the Ukrainian president walked in, they closed ranks almost at once.
The first day of the October summit was meant to make progress on the long-term budget for 2028 to 2034. It did not. The debate dragged on so long that the planned evening press conference was scrapped, and Council President António Costa ended up taking the file into his own hands. He now wants to draft a fresh compromise ahead of a special budget summit scheduled for 26 November.
The gap is wide. The Irish presidency suggested about €1.62 trillion, already €141 billion below the Commission’s plan, while the European Parliament wants close to €1.94 trillion. A camp of net payers led by Germany and Sweden still finds the Irish figure too high. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called it a “no-go zone”, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz demanded deep cuts. Seventeen “Friends of Cohesion”, headed by Spain and Italy, are pulling in the opposite direction to defend farm and regional funds.
Energy proved just as divisive. With wholesale gas roughly three times its pre-war level since the conflict with Iran began, Italy sided with Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia in asking to push the new carbon market for heating and transport back to 2030. The Nordic states warned that such a delay would scare off green investors.
Friday belonged to Volodymyr Zelensky. A day after Donald Trump told Newsmax he found the Ukrainian leader “more difficult to deal with than Putin”, Zelensky told the room that Kyiv had a legitimate right to self-defence and would “stand our ground”. According to diplomats quoted by Politico, nobody pressed him to soften his tone toward Washington. Poland’s Donald Tusk had set the line the evening before: “You are not alone.” Kyiv also arrived with good news for Brussels, having passed the reforms needed to release a delayed €3.7 billion aid payment.
