‘Very concerned’ about EU’s finances, Estonian leader says
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, said when arriving for the second day of the summit that she was “very concerned” about last night’s discussions about amending the EU’s long-term budget.
“We have to consider the crisis that we have ongoing right now,” she said, noting that when the budget was originally negotiated “we didn’t foresee the pandemic, but we also didn’t foresee the war – and now we are in the situation where we actually have to invest more in defence.”
But why I’m worried is that I didn’t hear that the other colleagues thought that this is the major challenge that we have in Europe right now.
Kallas also criticised state aid because “in the end even rich countries will run out of taxpayers’ money to subsidise their companies.”
Europe, she insisted, needs to address competitiveness.
Key events
Don’t lose focus on Ukraine, Varadkar says
Irish leader Leo Varadkar said when arriving at the second day of the summit that one priority is tackling inflation.
When it comes to the eurozone, main priority is inflation – bringing inflation down so that we can stabilise the cost of living and hopefully over the course of next year start seeing interest rates coming down against. And I think that’s a realistic prospect, but that’s going to depend on price developments in the period ahead.
Varadkar also stressed the need to focus on Ukraine.
I think it’s really important that one of the outcomes of this meeting is that we don’t lose focus on Ukraine. Because of all the other things that are happening in the world, and not least in the Middle East, it would be very easy to lose focus on the war in Ukraine – and essential that we don’t do that.
EU leaders ‘determined’ to show ‘steadfast’ support for Ukraine, Michel says
Arriving at the summit, European Council president Charles Michel said he expects leaders to show they are united.
We’ll discuss the economic situation, we’ll have the euro summit – it’s very fundamental for all of us to make sure that we have a European competitiveness, that we are able to protect our jobs across the EU, to develop our economies, to use climate change and digital transformation as a tool, as a strategy for more growth.
Leaders will also discuss Ukraine, he said.
We are determined to repeat and to recall that our support for Ukraine is steadfast for as long as it takes.
The western Balkans, Sahel and migration are also on the agenda, he said.
Michel said there is broad support for financial assistance to Ukraine. Asked about Hungary and Slovakia – which has qualms about funding for Kyiv- the Council chief said the EU needs to make sure decisions are made by consensus and that the function of summits is to make sure leaders convince, argue and at the end find unity.
‘Very concerned’ about EU’s finances, Estonian leader says
Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, said when arriving for the second day of the summit that she was “very concerned” about last night’s discussions about amending the EU’s long-term budget.
“We have to consider the crisis that we have ongoing right now,” she said, noting that when the budget was originally negotiated “we didn’t foresee the pandemic, but we also didn’t foresee the war – and now we are in the situation where we actually have to invest more in defence.”
But why I’m worried is that I didn’t hear that the other colleagues thought that this is the major challenge that we have in Europe right now.
Kallas also criticised state aid because “in the end even rich countries will run out of taxpayers’ money to subsidise their companies.”
Europe, she insisted, needs to address competitiveness.
Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog, where we will be focusing on day two of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.
Heads of state and government from 27 EU governments will discuss migration, Ukraine and the economy today, after a long discussion last night on the Middle East and the bloc’s long-term budget.
Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
