EU Leaders Meet In Brussels To Discuss Tariffs, Sanctions, Migration And West Asia (image-X/ThomaMore)

The European Union leaders will meet in Brussels for the one-day summit on Thursday to discuss tougher sanctions on Russia, and ways to prevent new United States tariffs. They are also expected to cover the Israel-Iran conflict, the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip as well.

During the closed-door discussion, tariffs, migration, competitiveness, and the 2040 target under the Green Deal are also set to make an appearance. The summit comes just two days after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran airstrikes. The move was warmly welcomed by the European members as they had worried about the consequences it would have brought following the escalation.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join the EU summit by videoconference after having met with Trump on Wednesday. Though US-led NATO had downgraded Ukraine from a top position to the sidelines, the Russian war still remains a great trouble for the EU. Thus, the members will be discussing the 18th round of sanctioning on Russia and whether to put a price cap on Russian oil. However, this wasn’t agreed by all members as it would lead to a raise in energy prices.

Apart from this, Trump had threatened tariffs, which are now weighing on the EU. On Wednesday, Trump had lashed out at Spain for not spending more on defence and suggested yet more tariffs, meanwhile, the French President had criticised Trump for starting a trade war with long-time allies.

In today’s meeting, the EU members have a lot of disagreements to overcome. They will review their wide-ranging trade and cooperation agreement with Israel over its widened offensive against Gaza. 17 of the 27 foreign ministers have backed the Dutch-led initiative to review the agreement. Some of the countries had even come forward calling for the suspension of the agreement. The European Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen’s pivot is also under scrutiny for shifting focus from climate action to military spending. Defence and security are more likely to be at the top of the agenda.

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The summit would end with a statement of conclusions that will set the agenda for the bloc for the next four months.