The leaders of the Twenty-Seven are meeting this Thursday and Friday in Brussels to negotiate the next community budget. The summit will also address trade imbalances with China and the migration crisis in Ceuta.
The heads of state and government of the EU are gathering this Thursday and Friday in Brussels, according to eleconomista.es, with a packed agenda of economic issues. The most contentious point is the negotiation of the community budget for 2028-2034, alongside trade imbalances with China and measures to alleviate the energy price crisis.
In the budget debate, the frugal countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, are calling for cuts to the allocation and more emphasis on Competitiveness and Defence. A group of around fifteen countries, the Friends of Cohesion, including Spain, rejects the cuts and demands to maintain the budgets for Agriculture and Cohesion.
The latest proposal, revealed on Saturday, cuts 8% mainly in Competitiveness and Defence, and has not satisfied any party. France is calling for the exploration of new avenues for own resources to strengthen community finances, one of the central topics on Thursday.
Regarding China, the leaders will assess whether the agreement sealed last week, which sets a maximum of 350,000 hybrid vehicles per year exported to the EU, is sufficient to correct the trade relationship. Days earlier, Paris and Berlin proposed developing trade instruments that would allow excluding a partner from the single market if necessary. Spain hopes to learn the details of the pact, although its overall assessment is positive.
Ukraine will also be on the agenda following pressure from the United States for Kyiv to stop bombing Russian refineries, with the threat of withdrawing military and intelligence support. The roadmap One Europe, One Market, aimed at integrating the single market and improving the block's competitiveness, will be the starting point for discussions.
The migration chapter will be addressed on Friday, the second day of the summit. Leaders will evaluate irregular entries and the EU's response capacity in crises. Spain seeks to have the conclusions acknowledge the European dimension of the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla. According to sources from Moncloa, arrivals via the Atlantic route have fallen by 74%, a figure that Pedro Sánchez's government wants to highlight alongside the management of the migration crisis in Ceuta.
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