European Council talks in Brussels ran long after leaders moved from the long-term budget to migration and public safety. One EU diplomat said leaders broadly agreed the EU should be able to suspend asylum applications when faced with a sudden influx of migrants that may have been engineered on purpose. The discussion left open whether that would mean pushbacks, which are banned under EU law.
Three leaders argued that migration is a concern for many EU citizens and is contributing to rising crime rates. Their intervention delayed an already long summit. Ahead of Friday’s talks, 16 EU leaders had met over breakfast to discuss migration before the subject returned at lunch with the full group. Very little, if anything, was decided.
Poland was at the centre of a separate clash over energy prices. Italy and Greece joined the Visegrád Four — Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — in calling for a delay to ETS2, the bloc’s second phase of carbon pricing, to address high energy prices. A majority of countries rejected the push. The standoff lasted about three hours, delayed lunch and led to the cancellation of a press conference on Thursday night.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that if Russia wins the war, as many as 20 million Ukrainians could be forced to flee to Europe. More than 4 million Ukrainians already live in EU countries under temporary protection, according to Eurostat. He said he heard “support and only support” from European colleagues.
Negotiations on the next long-term EU budget brought leaders no closer to a breakthrough. European Council President António Costa is still aiming for a budget deal before the end of the year, according to two EU officials, and announced a special summit at the end of November, with a further meeting in December.