European leaders meet in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, the Middle East, defence and migration – Europe live | European Union
Published: 2025-06-26 11:41:32 | Views: 12
Morning opening: Welcome to Brussels
Jakub Krupa
After yesterday’s Nato summit in The Hague, European leaders have travelled 176 km south to Brussels (1 hour 36 minutes on a train, but with connection in Rotterdam) where they meet for today’s European Council meeting of the EU.
The European Union flag stands inside the atrium at the European Council building in Brussels. Photograph: Omar Havana/AP
On the agenda:
Ukraine (including a video call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy),
the Middle East,
European defence and security,
competitiveness, and
migration.
They will also discuss the situation in Moldova and the broader enlargement policy towards the western Balkans.
The leaders should start arriving any moment now, and I will bring you their comments as they go into the room where it happens.
It’s Thursday, 26 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Tensions mount ahead of Budapest Pride on Saturday
Jon Henley
Since we’re talking about Hungary, tensions are mounting there ahead of Budapest’s Pride parade on Saturday.
A copy of Masok LGBTQ+ magazine, with a photo of the first Pride parade on its cover, lies on the table in the archive of the Hatter Society in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: Márton Mónus/Reuters
A reminder: in March, the illiberal government of prime minister Viktor Orbán launched a new assault on LGBTQ+ rights, making it an offence to hold or attend any event violating contentious “child protection” legislation that bars “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors.
Hungarian police said last week that on those grounds, they were banning the capital’s Pride march. However the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has vowed it will go ahead because it was being organised as by city hall and municipal events do not require police approval.
More than 70 MEPs and several leading national politicians including the Dutch education minister, Spanish culture minister, and the former Irish and Belgian prime ministers Leo Varadkar and Elio Di Rupo, have said they will attend in solidarity.
On Wednesday the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, urged Hungarian authorities on social media to allow the parade, vowing:
“To the LGBTIQ+ community in Hungary and beyond: I will always be your ally.”
Orbán retaliated late on Wednesday evening, saying in his own post:
“I urge the European Commission to refrain from interfering in the law enforcement affairs of Member States, where it has no role to play.”
(As reported earlier, he was also asked about it again this morning, at 9:45.)
Now it has emerged that after 33 embassies in Budapest expressed support for the march, Hungary’s justice minister, Bence Tuzson, wrote to a number of them this week warning staff to stay away: “The legal situation is clear: the Pride parade is a legally banned assembly,” he said in the letter, seen by AFP.
“Those who take part in an event prohibited by the authorities commit an infraction. Kindly ensure that your co-workers and colleagues are duly informed of these facts, in order to maintain clarity.”
And the organisers of the Pride parade, in their turn, have sent a letter to the embassies insisting that the police had no right to ban the event and that the march was “neither banned nor unlawful,” promising it would “go ahead as planned”.
Slovakia wants sanctions package delayed, ready to veto
Hungary and Slovakia remain opposed to adopting the 18th package of sanctions today.
Hungary’s Orbán signalled earlier that he received some offers from the EU on potential areas for compromise (9:45), but, in contrast, Slovakia’s position appeared to have hardened in the last few days.
On Monday, the country’s foreign minister Juraj Blanár suggested Slovakia was ready to support the package as it doesn’t directly affect its interests.
But talking to reporters this morning, prime minister Robert Fico said he would ask for the package to be delayed, and could even veto it completely.
Slovak media are reporting that Fico is frustrated with the EU’s separate proposal on energy imports from Russia, including on nuclear fuel, and want to use the threat of blocking the sanctions to get concessions there.
One to watch.
Latvia 'very committed' to further sanctions on Russia, Belarus, PM says
Latvian prime minister Evika Siliņa says that while she isn’t sure if the 18th sanctions package can be agreed today, Latvia remains “very committed” to further measures against Russia and Belarus.
She says “it is very important to keep Russia out of financial resources” that fund the continuing war on Ukraine.
She says she sees no movement from Russia that would indicate its willingness to end the conflict as it continues to bomb Ukraine.
“We call for a ceasefire, but if not ceasefire is reached, they need to go further with next sanctions package against Russia,” she says.
Romania’s new president Nicușor Dan says his focus is on foreign affairs today, with particular interest on the situation in Moldova, the broader Black Sea region, and the continuing support for Ukraine.
Spain’s Pedro Sánchez says he is satisified with the outcome of the Nato summit in The Hague, which he says was difficult but strikes the right balance.
Similarly to Ireland’s Martin, he urges the EU to act to improve the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and suspend the bloc’s association agreement with Israel over alleged violation of human rights.
Curiously, he links it with the 18th package of sanctions on Russia, saying it would be a double standard to pursue it while not reacting to Israel’s actions.
He is also asked about US president Donald Trump’s threat he would make Spain pay double for refusing to sign up to the new Nato spending target.
He says defence and trade are two separate issues, points out that Spain has a trade deficit with the US, and notes that the EU’s trade policy is run from Brussels.
EU should aim to accept Ukraine into bloc by 2030, Lithuanian president says
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda says the EU should open the six remaining clusters of negotiations for Ukraine’s EU membership by the end of the year and aim to admit the country to the bloc by 1 January 2030, Reuters reports.
Hungary's position on Ukraine 'regrettable', Ireland's Martin says
Ireland’s Martin is pretty outspoken this morning.
Asked about Ukraine’s accession to the EU, he calls Viktor Orbán and Hungary’s opposition to the move “deeply, deeply regrettable” and “very problematic.”
He says Ireland “will do what we always do, would seek to persuade” on this, as he insists that “it’s very important that that accession pathway starts.”
He says that knowing that the EU membership has had a transformative impact on Ireland, he does not want to get in the way of stopping anyone seeking to join the EU.
Similarly on Israel, he repeatedly calls out“the degree of carnage and destruction” in Gaza, saying it “cries out for a humanitarian response from Europe.”
“I think that kind of tactic and pattern of undermining those who would even question what’s happening in Gaza, that also has to stop,” he says.
'Atmosphere focused on getting a deal,' Ireland's PM says on talks with US
Ireland’s Martin also continues on the US trade situation:
“I do genuinely detect an atmosphere that’s focused on getting a deal, both on the US side and on the European Union side, and that’s where our focus in Ireland is.
Actually getting a deal is important for certainty so that we know the landscape out ahead of us and that industry knows the landscape ahead of it, so that we can protect jobs, which is our number one priority.”
Negotiated trade deal with US 'extremely important,' Irish PM says
Irish prime minister Micheál Martin is up next.
He says that getting a negotiated trade arrangement with the US before the 9 July deadline is “extremely important to give certainty to market, certainty to investors, to workers and to industry.”
“Every effort has to be made to get a landing zone that we can live with. It’s not ideal. It’s not optimal. Europe doesn’t want tariffs, but we have to deal with the situation that is before us,” he says.
Martin also says Ireland is “not happy” with the delays in the Ukrainian accession process, with “some countries slowing down the process” (hi Hungary!).
“It’s a very fundamental issue that speaks to the future of Ukrainians, but also of Europe, and the European Union, and Ireland has been outspoken from the very beginning of this that there should be a pathway for Ukraine to become members of the European Union.”
Martin also says he will raise the issue of “the dire, catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza,” saying it is “incomprehensible” that Europe is not putting more pressure on Israel.
Luxembourgish prime minister Luc Frieden says the Nato summit in The Hague was “the summit of unity and strength for Europe” as he praises the outcome of the talks.
He says the EU needs to “deepen the single market” to generate economic growth.
He pointedly says “we need open trade, and we are against tariffs,” as he hopes to get a deal with the US ahead of the 9 July deadline.
On Ukraine, he says “we need to continue to be supportive of Ukrainian people.”
On Gaza, he says the situation in Gaza continues to be “terrible” from a humanitarian point of view, and while Europe has “always been on the side of Israel in [terms of] its right to self-defence,” more needs to be done to improve the situation of Palestinians.
Finnish PM hopes to see sanctions against Russia passed today
Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo also starts by praising the outcome of the Nato summit in The Hague yesterday.
He then says he hopes the leaders will reach an agreement on the new sanctions package to put pressure on Putin in a bid to end the invasion on Ukraine.
He stresses the need to pass the package today, and says he hopes that the two countries signalling their dissent – that’s Hungary and Slovakia – will eventually back it too.
Change in Nato mindset brought on by Vladimir Putin as much as Donald Trump - analysis
Dan Sabbagh
Donald Trump may like to take the credit for almost all of the 32 allies agreeing to a sharp increase in defence spending, but the reality is that the dramatic change in the Nato mindset was as much brought on by Vladimir Putin.
President Donald Trump attends a press conference following the Nato summit in The Hague, the Netherlands. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock
The Russian president’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the first jolt, but there is a second uncomfortable reality. If there is a sustainable ceasefire in Ukraine, it will mean the deployment of a European-led peacekeeping force in the country – and after a while, Russia’s military might will inevitably recover.
Mark Rutte’s sycophantic, but effective, handling of Trump, certainly helped bring about a positive summit in The Hague, though even the Nato chief had to concede that describing Trump as “daddy” – a father figure who had to tell Iran and Israel to stop fighting – was perhaps “a question of taste”.
The manoeuvres were not subtle, but they were nevertheless effective. A late schedule change gave Trump a night in King Willem-Alexander’s palace, complete with breakfast, leaving Trump to remark on how well he had slept, though what particularly seems to have hit home was hearing each of the alliance’s other 31 leaders give a three-minute speech, something that might be assumed to have bored him.
“I came here because it was something I’m supposed to be doing, but I left here a little bit different,” he said as he reflected on the morning meeting in an upbeat press conference.
Make no mistake, after Trump’s re-election and particularly in February, the alarm across Nato was real. That month, Trump started talking to Putin about Ukraine, and rowed with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the Oval Office – while his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, made a speech that was interpreted as a warning that in the not too distant future Europe might have to defend itself.
But what helped persuade Nato’s other leaders to spend more was a worry about Trump’s commitment. Nato planners believe that if Russia were to agree to a ceasefire, it could quickly, within perhaps three, five or seven years, pose a serious threat to the alliance’s eastern flank.
As we wait to hear from more leaders to arrive, let me jump on Schoof’s comments and bring you our defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh’sanalysis of yesterday’s Nato summit in The Hague.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz is not in the mood for lengthy conversations as he arrives at his first European Council.
He lists the topics to be discussed today, and endorses the European Commission’s proposals to improve the bloc’s competitveness globally and “efforts to reach a trade agreement with the US.”
And, on a personal note, he says he hopes to be able to make a contribution to help Europe move forward successfully.
Dutch PM 'hopeful' to see new sanctions passed by EU
Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof arrives next, fresh from the successful Nato summit in The Hague.
He (not surprisingly) says it was a “very good summit,” which “achieved a big result” with the new 5% defence spending target.
He also tells reporters it’s clear that the US remains committed to Nato and Article 5, and hopes for a resolution to trade issues soon.
On sanctions against Russia, Schoof backs the “strong” package and says he is “hopeful” that it will be passed during today’s meeting.
'Rebellion is the only way,' Hungary's Orbán criticises EU's migration plans, rejects Ukraine's membership bid
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is the first leader to arrive.
One of the key issues at this summit is whether the leaders will be able to agree on the 18th package of sanctions against Russia.
Hungary has been a vocal critic of the proposal, threatening (as usual) to block it. Slovakia is also partially against the new package.
But in his exchange with the Hungarian media, Orbán appears to signal he received a good compromise offer from the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. One to watch.
He then takes a few questions from international reporters.
He gets asked what he would do if one of his five children wanted to attend the Budapest Pride march this weekend, banned by the Hungarian police.
He says:
They are all adults. So, they make their own choices in their own lives.
On Ukraine, he says he worries that “if we integrate Ukraine into the European Union, we would integrate the war.”
“We would not like it to be together in one community with a country that is at war and represents an imminent danger for us. If a member of the EU is at war, it means the EU is at war, and we don’t like it.”
He gets asked if his calculation would change if there was a ceasefire.
“Yeah, but there’s no ceasefire,” he answers.
On EU-US trade, he says the problem is the Americans have “a heavyweight dealmaker,” while the EU’s negotiators are “rather weak.”
On migration, he calls for “rebellion, rebellion, rebellion” against the EU’s rules as he criticises the inadequate response so far.
“We have discussed 100 times how to change … the regulation of migration. And nothing happened, they just [keep] coming in,” he says.
He tells his fellow leaders that “if you come together to have a nice meeting and nice talk, it will never ork.”
“The only way to stop it, as we Hungarians have done, … that nobody can step into the territory of Hungary without having the permission from the Hungarian authorities,” he says.
“What I suggest to all my colleagues, rebellion, rebellion, rebellion. … Rebellion is the only way,” he says.
Morning opening: Welcome to Brussels
Jakub Krupa
After yesterday’s Nato summit in The Hague, European leaders have travelled 176 km south to Brussels (1 hour 36 minutes on a train, but with connection in Rotterdam) where they meet for today’s European Council meeting of the EU.
The European Union flag stands inside the atrium at the European Council building in Brussels. Photograph: Omar Havana/AP
On the agenda:
Ukraine (including a video call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy),
the Middle East,
European defence and security,
competitiveness, and
migration.
They will also discuss the situation in Moldova and the broader enlargement policy towards the western Balkans.
The leaders should start arriving any moment now, and I will bring you their comments as they go into the room where it happens.
It’s Thursday, 26 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
