5 STEPS TO GET UKRAINE INTO THE EU IN 2027   Plans to bring Kyiv into the tent before it has completed all reforms and to remove Hungary’s veto signal a sense of urgency in Brussels. By ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH in Brussels Photo-Illustration by Natália Delgado/POLITICO The EU is hatching an unprecedented plan that could give Ukraine partial membership in the bloc as early as next year, as Brussels tries to shore up the country’s position in Europe and away from Moscow, according to 10 officials and diplomats. Four years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion, and with Kyiv pushing for EU membership in 2027 to be included in a peace deal with the Kremlin, the early-stage idea would represent a dramatic change to the way the bloc brings new countries into the fold. The plan would see Ukraine getting a seat at the EU table before carrying out the reforms needed for full membership privileges. European officials and the Ukrainian government say Kyiv’s membership bid is urgent. Russia is likely to try to “stop our movement into the EU,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Friday when asked about the importance of formalizing a 2027 accession date. “That is why we say name the date. Why a specific date? Because the date will be signed by Ukraine, Europe, the USA and Russia.”  The EU’s idea echoes Emmanuel Macron’s multi-speed Union blueprint, which he has outlined several times since he became French president in 2017. The latest version has been informally dubbed “reverse enlargement,” according to an EU official and two European diplomats, because it effectively brings countries into the bloc at the beginning of the process of meeting membership criteria rather than at the end. EU officials say the idea is attractive because it would give Kyiv breathing space to finish reforms to its democratic institutions, judiciary and political system while lessening the likelihood it abandons hope of ever joining the bloc and turns its back on the West. However, obstacles lie ahead, not least Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who opposes Ukraine’s membership. Based on conversations with five diplomats representing different countries and three EU and two Ukrainian officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the confidential negotiations they are familiar with, POLITICO has identified five steps. STEP 1: GET UKRAINE READY  The EU has been “frontloading” Ukraine’s membership bid. That involves providing Kyiv with informal guidance in negotiating “clusters” — the legal steps on the path to membership. The bloc has already provided Ukraine with details on three of six negotiating clusters. At an informal meeting of European affairs ministers in Cyprus in March, the EU wants to give a visiting Ukrainian delegation details of more clusters so work can begin on those as well.  “Despite the most challenging circumstances, in the midst of ongoing Russian aggression, Ukraine is accelerating its reform efforts,” Marilena Raouna, deputy Europe minister of Cyprus, which holds the Council of the EU presidency, told POLITICO. The March 3 meeting will target reaffirming that support, she said. But “there will be no shortcuts” on reforms, an EU official said. That message was echoed by two senior diplomats from countries that are strong backers of Ukraine, and all the EU officials POLITICO spoke with.  “EU membership only brings benefits if you go through the transformation via the enlargement process — that’s the real superpower of EU membership,” one official said. “The European Commission has to square those two things: the need to move quickly, but also to have the reforms in Ukraine.”  For its part, Kyiv says it’s ready to do the work required. “We will be technically ready by 2027,” Zelenskyy said on Friday. “You are talking about the end of the war and simultaneous security guarantees. And the EU for us is security guarantees.”  Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who said last month that a creative approach to EU membership was a “good idea” and that his country would even accept temporarily not having its own commissioner. | Yoan Valat/EPA STEP 2: CREATE EU MEMBERSHIP-LITE  EU governments questioned Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about efforts to break the deadlock over bringing new nations into the bloc at a meeting in Brussels on Friday, according to diplomats who took part in the discussion or were briefed on its content.   She set out a variety of options and models that the EU is considering, they said. Among them was the idea of “reverse enlargement.”   “It would be a sort of recalibration of the process — you join and then you get phased in rights and obligations,” said an EU official familiar with the content of the discussion. “So there would be a rethinking of how we do accession based on the very different situation we have now compared to when the Commission established accession criteria.”  The idea is not to lower the bar, but to create a politically powerful message to countries whose accession is held up because of war or opposition from capitals like Budapest — not just Ukraine, but also Moldova and Albania, among others.  “It’s important to send a political message,” said an EU diplomat. “The war of aggression has been going for four years. Ukrainians need support. The EU must provide this support, politically and psychologically.” While Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine will not accept second-tier EU status, it could be open to something that codifies the country’s path into the EU before it becomes a fully fledged member of the bloc, an official familiar with Kyiv’s thinking said.  A Moldovan official told POLITICO that the country “wants to join a European Union that functions effectively beyond 27 member states, and we welcome discussions on the internal reforms needed to make this possible.” At the same time, “full membership — with equal rights and full participation in EU decision-making — must remain the clear and final destination.”  Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told POLITICO last month that a creative approach to EU membership was a “good idea” and that his country would even accept temporarily not having its own commissioner. The idea has its opponents within the EU. “On principle, you cannot discuss two categories of member states,” said an EU official. “This wouldn’t be fair not only to Ukraine but also to the European project. The message should be to accelerate reforms.”  Germany, in particular, is against the idea of creating multiple tiers of EU membership and wary that countries that join the bloc before they’re ready will be promised things Brussels won’t be able to deliver, according to a senior diplomat. However, the hope is that if the EU’s other heavy-hitters such as Paris, Rome and Warsaw are behind the push, Berlin could be convinced.  STEP 3: WAIT FOR ORBÁN’S DEPARTURE The challenge for Ukraine’s membership prospects is getting all 27 member countries on board because any decision to expand the bloc requires unanimous support. Orbán, Putin’s closest ally in the EU, is steadfastly opposed.  But the Commission and EU capitals are looking to the Hungarian election in April and also working on ways around Orbán’s veto.  Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who opposes Ukraine’s membership of the EU but faces a tight election contest in April. | Olivier Matthys/EPA Orbán faces a tight contest and is behind in the polls. He has weaponized the topic of Ukraine’s EU membership in his campaign, over the weekend saying “Ukraine is our enemy” over its push to ban Russian energy imports and that it should “never” join the EU.  None of the officials POLITICO spoke with said they believed Orbán would change his mind before the election.   The Hungarian prime minister’s antipathy for Kyiv “runs deep,” said one senior EU diplomat. “It’s a personal thing between Orbán and Zelenskyy. It’s more than a strategic or tactical play.”  Orbán and Zelenskyy have repeatedly taken aim at one another. Zelenskyy publicly accused Orbán of “doing very dangerous things” by blocking Ukraine’s EU path and separately dubbed Budapest a “little Moscow.” Orbán has called Ukraine “one of the most corrupt countries in the world” and accused Zelenskyy of issuing threats against Hungary’s sovereignty. Several EU officials said they hope that if Orbán loses the election, his rival Péter Magyar, the conservative leader of the opposition Tisza party, could change tack on Ukraine, given he promised last year to put the issue to a referendum. But if Orbán gets reelected it’s onto step four.  STEP 4: PLAY THE TRUMP CARD  While Orbán’s opposition to Ukraine joining the EU appears steadfast, there is one man European leaders believe could change his mind: Donald Trump.  The U.S. president, who is closely allied with Orbán and endorsed him ahead of the Hungarian election, has made no secret of his desire to be the one who pushes Ukraine and Russia to do a peace deal. With EU accession for Ukraine by 2027 written into a draft 20-point proposal to end the war, the hope is that Trump may call Budapest to get a deal done.  Zelenskyy hinted at this hope on Friday.  Under the peace proposal, the U.S. “takes on the obligation that it is a guarantor that no one will block” elements of the deal, he said. “We talk about whether the United States of America will work with some European entities politically so that they don’t block.”  The Trump administration previously pressed Orbán during negotiations over the EU’s sanctions packages against Moscow, an EU diplomat said.  STEP 5: IF ALL ELSE FAILS, REMOVE HUNGARY’S VOTING RIGHTS If Trump’s art of the deal fails, there is one more card the EU has to play: getting Article 7 of the EU treaty back on the table against Hungary, according to two EU diplomats.   Article 7, deployed when a country is considered at risk of breaching the bloc’s core values, is the most serious political sanction the EU can impose because it suspends a member’s rights, including those on whether to make new countries members. The EU has no intention of making that push yet, assuming that doing so would play into Orbán’s hands ahead of his April election. But capitals are gauging support for using the tool if Orbán is reelected and continues to obstruct EU decision-making. Such a move is “absolutely possible,” a third diplomat said.  Gabriel Gavin, Veronika Melkozerova and Nicholas Vinocur contributed to this story.   

“Laws that exist only on paper achieve nothing.” This is not a slogan. It reflects the reality described by small-scale fishers and points to a wide gap between European Union commitments and delivery on the water. More than a decade after the last reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the EU is once again debating whether to rewrite this policy, even though the CFP’s framework is fit for purpose and delivers sustainable fisheries — when properly applied. What continues to fail is its implementation. The clearest example is the legal commitment to end overfishing by 2020, a deadline still unmet. > If Europe delays action until after another lengthy reform, it risks losing > the next generation of fishers and hollowing out coastal economies. Nowhere is this gap more visible than in the Mediterranean, and particularly in Cyprus and Greece, where stocks are further weakened by the accelerating effects of the climate crisis and the spread of invasive species. The Mediterranean remains the most overfished sea in the world, and small-scale fishers feel these consequences directly. Yet, Cypriot fishers are not asking for weaker rules or a new policy. They are asking for effective enforcement of existing legislation, and support from national authorities. Without these, the future of fisheries as a profession is at stake. If Europe delays action until after another lengthy reform, it risks losing the next generation of fishers and hollowing out coastal economies. Photo by A.S.S. The experience of Cypriot and Greek fishers mirrors a broader European issue. Before reopening the CFP, Europe should take stock of the real gap, which lies not in the law itself, but in its uneven implementation and enforcement. Calls for reform are driven by familiar pressures: environmental safeguards are increasingly framed as obstacles to economic viability and fleet renewal. Reform is presented as a way to modernize vessels and cut red tape. But this framing overlooks lessons from the past. Europe has been here before. Excess capacity and weak controls pushed fish stocks to the brink of collapse, forcing painful corrections that cost public money and livelihoods. For small-scale fishers in the Mediterranean, these impacts are not theoretical. They are experienced daily, through declining catches, rising costs and increasing uncertainty. The Common Fisheries Policy delivers when implemented Evidence shows that where the CFP has been implemented, it delivers. According to European Commission assessments, the share of stocks subject to overfishing in the North-East Atlantic fell from around 40 percent in 2013 to just over 22 percent by 2025. In the Mediterranean, the figure dropped from 70 percent to 51 percent over the same period. These improvements are closely linked to the application of science-based catch limits, effort restrictions and capacity controls under the CFP. > Europe has been here before. Excess capacity and weak controls pushed fish > stocks to the brink of collapse, forcing painful corrections that cost public > money and livelihoods. Economic and social data tell the same story. EU fishing fleets have become more efficient and more profitable over the past decade. Vessels now generate higher average incomes, with wages per full-time fisher rising by more than a quarter since 2013. In its 2023 policy communication, the Commission concluded that the CFP remains an adequate legal framework, with the real gap lying in its application and enforcement. Those involved in the 2013 reform understand why this matters. The revised policy marked a clear shift away from overcapacity and short-term decision-making toward a science-based approach. The European Commission’s own assessments show that this approach delivered results where it was applied. Parts of the EU fleet became more profitable, labor productivity improved and several fish stocks recovered. The CFP remains the EU’s strongest tool for reversing decline at sea. Implementation results in progress; reform leads to instability and uncertainty Strengthening the CPF’s implementation would deliver tangible benefits, including greater stability for fishers and coastal communities, avoiding years of legislative uncertainty, and allowing faster progress toward sustainability objectives. Firm and consistent implementation can enhance economic resilience while restoring ocean health, without the delays and risks that come with reopening the legislation. Given the time and resources required, another round of institutional reform is neither efficient nor necessary. Priority should instead be given to effectively delivering the agreed CFP commitments. Photo by A.S.S. Cypriot Presidency of the Council: a moment for delivery This debate unfolds as Cyprus assumes the EU Council Presidency, at a moment when choices made in Brussels carry immediate consequences at sea. Holding the Presidency brings responsibility as well as opportunity. It offers a chance to help frame the discussion toward making existing rules work in practice, while addressing current implementation challenges. This is where the credibility of the CFP will be tested. > Sustainability and livelihoods move together, or not at all. Reopening the CFP now may send the wrong signal. It may suggest that missed deadlines carry no consequence and that agreed-upon rules are optional. For fishers, it would prolong uncertainty at a time when stability is already fragile. For Europe, it would undermine trust in its ability to deliver. The EU was not conceived to generate endless processes or delay action through repeated legislative cycles. Its purpose is to deliver common solutions to shared problems, and to support people and communities where national action falls short. The last reform of the CFP was built on a simple principle: healthy fish stocks are the foundation of viable fisheries. Sustainability and livelihoods move together, or not at all. This principle is already reflected in Europe’s agreed framework. The task now is to act on it. Fisheries are a clear test of that promise. The law is already in place. The tools already exist. What Europe needs now is the political resolve to deliver on the commitments it has already made. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT * The sponsor is OCEANA * The ultimate controlling entity is OCEANA More information here.

European Union Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has said the bloc should consider establishing a standing military force of 100,000 troops and overhaul the political processes governing defense. Faced with Russian aggression and the U.S. shifting its focus away from Europe and threatening Greenland, Kubilius argued for a “big bang” approach to re-imagining Europe’s common defense. “Would the United States be militarily stronger if they would have 50 armies on the States level instead of a single federal army,” he said at a Swedish security conference on Sunday. “Fifty state defence policies and defense budgets on the states level, instead of a single federal defense policy and budget?” “If our answer is ‘no,’ [the] USA would not be stronger, then — what are we waiting for?” Kubilius said Europe’s defense readiness depends on three pillars: more investment in production capacity; institutions that are prepared and organization; and the political will to deter and, if needed, fight. Merely increasing funding for Europe’s existing defense setup won’t meet these requirements, he said, in part because of a lack of unity. Andrius Kubilius said Europe’s defense readiness depends on more investment in production, institutions that are prepared and the political will to deter and, if needed, fight. | Antonio Pedro Santos/EPA “We need to start to invest our money in such a way, that we would be able to fight as Europe, not just as collection of 27 national ‘bonsai armies’,” he said, borrowing a phrase from former EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Europe could instead create — “as Jean-Claude Juncker, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel already proposed 10 years ago” a powerful, standing “European military force” of 100,000 troops, he said. To help solve the issue of political will, Kubilius wants to establish a European Security Council. The idea has been talked up by French President Macron and former German Chancellor Merkel. “The European Security Council could be composed of key permanent members, along with several rotational members, including the member state with the Council presidency,” said Kubilius. “Plus the leadership of the EU: Commission and Council presidents.” The proposed security council should also include the United Kingdom, Kubilius said. “In total around 10-12 members, with the task to discuss the most important issues in defense, some of which I just mentioned before,” Kubilius said. “And not only discussing, but also swiftly preparing important decisions.”

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is determined to travel to South America next week to sign the EU’s long-delayed trade pact with the Mercosur bloc, but she’s having to make last-minute pledges to Europe’s farmers in order to board that flight. EU countries are set to make a pivotal decision on Friday on whether the contentious deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — which has been more than a quarter of a century in the making — will finally get over the line. It’s still not certain that von der Leyen can secure the majority she needs on Friday; everything boils down to whether Italy, the key swing voter, will support the accord. To secure Rome’s backing, von der Leyen on Tuesday rolled out some extra budget promises on farm funding. The target was clear: Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose refusal to back the Mercosur agreement forced von der Leyen to cancel her planned signing trip in December. At its heart, the Mercosur agreement is a drive by Europe’s big manufacturers to sell more cars, machinery and chemicals in Latin America, while the agri powerhouses of the southern hemisphere will secure greater access to sell food to Europe — a prospect that terrifies EU farmers. While Germany and Spain have long led the charge for a deal, France and Poland are dead-set against. That leaves Italy as the key member country poised to cast the deciding vote. Von der Leyen’s letter on Tuesday was carefully choreographed political theater. Writing to the EU Council presidency and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, she offered earlier access to up to €45 billion in agricultural funding under the bloc’s next long-term budget, while reaffirming €293.7 billion in farm spending after 2027. POLITICO was the first to report on Monday that the declaration was in the works. She insisted the measures in her letter would “provide the farmers and rural communities with an unprecedented level of support, in some respects even higher than in the current budget cycle.” The money isn’t new — it’s being brought forward from an existing pot in the EU’s next long-term budget — but governments can now lock it in for farmers early, before it is reassigned during later budget negotiations. Von der Leyen framed the move as offering stability and crisis readiness, giving Meloni a tangible win she can parade to her powerful farm lobby. WILL MELONI BACK MERCOSUR? The big question is whether Italy will view von der Leyen’s promises as going far enough ahead of the crunch meeting on Friday. Early signs suggested Rome might be softening. Meloni issued a statement saying the farm funding pledge was “a positive and significant step forward in the negotiations leading to the new EU budget,” but conspicuously avoided making a direct link to Mercosur. (French President Emmanuel Macron also welcomed von der Leyen’s letter, but there’s no prospect of Paris backing Mercosur on Friday.) taly’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose refusal to back the Mercosur agreement forced Ursula von der Leyen to cancel her planned signing trip in December. | Tom Nicholson/Getty Images Nicola Procaccini, a close Meloni ally in the European Parliament, told POLITICO: “We are moving in the right direction to enable Italy to sign Mercosur.” Right direction, but not yet at the destination? The government in Rome would not comment on whether it was about to back the deal. Germany, the EU’s industrial kingpin, is keen to secure a Mercosur agreement to boost its exports, but is still wary as to whether sufficient support exists to finalize an accord on Friday. A German official cautioned everything was still to play for. “A qualified majority is emerging, but it’s not a done deal yet. Until we have the result, there’s no reason to sit back and relax,” the official said. Optimism is growing regarding Rome in the pro-Mercosur camp, however. After all, the pact is widely viewed as strongly in the interests not only of Italy’s engineering companies, but also of its high-end wine and food producers, which are big exporters to South America. Additional curveballs are being thrown by Romania and Czechia, said one EU diplomat, who expressed concern they could turn against the deal on Friday, reducing any majority to very tight margins. The diplomat said they believed Italy would back the deal, however. FINAL STRETCH? The maneuvering is set to continue on Wednesday, when agriculture ministers descend on Brussels for what the Commission is billing as a “political meeting” after December’s farm protests. Officially, Mercosur isn’t on the agenda. Unofficially, however, it’s expected to be omnipresent — in the corridors, in the side meetings, and in the questions ministers choose not to answer. Farm ministers don’t approve trade deals, but the optics matter. Von der Leyen needs momentum — and cover — ahead of Friday’s vote. France — the country most hostile to the deal — will be vocal. On Wednesday, French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard is expected to open yet another offensive — this time for a lower trigger on emergency safeguards related to the deal. This would reopen a compromise already struck between EU governments, the Parliament and the Commission. It’s a familiar tactic: Keep pushing. “France is still not satisfied with the proposals made by the Commission,” a French agriculture ministry official told reporters on Tuesday, while acknowledging that there has been some improvement. “Paris’ strategy for this week is still to continue to look for a blocking minority.” “Italy has its own strategy, we have ours,” added the official, who was granted anonymity in line with the rules for French government briefings. France’s allies, notably Poland, are equally blunt. Agriculture Minister Stefan Krajewski said the priority was simply “to block this agreement.” If that failed, Warsaw would seek maximum safeguards and compensation. That means it’s all coming down to the wire on Friday. A second failure to dispatch von der Leyen to finalize the agreement would be deeply embarrassing, and would only stoke Berlin’s anger at other EU countries thwarting the deal. For now, it’s still unclear whether von der Leyen will board that plane. Bartosz Brzeziński reported from Brussels, Giorgio Leali reported from Paris, and Nette Nöstlinger reported from Berlin.

BRUSSELS — After years of being treated as an outlier for its hardline stance on migration, Denmark says it has finally brought the rest of the EU on board with its tough approach. Europe’s justice and home affairs ministers on Monday approved new measures allowing EU countries to remove failed asylum seekers, set up processing centers overseas and create removal hubs outside their borders — measures Copenhagen has long advocated. The deal was “many years in the making,” said Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark’s center-left minister for integration who has driven migration negotiations during his country’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU. Stoklund told POLITICO that when he first started working on the migration brief a decade ago in the Danish parliament, his fellow left-wingers around the bloc viewed his government’s position as so egregious that “other social democrats wouldn’t meet with me.” Over the last few years, “there’s been a huge change in perception,” Stoklund said. When the deal was done Monday, the “sigh of relief” from ministers and their aides was palpable, with people embracing one another and heaping praise on both the Danish brokers and Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission that put forward the initial proposal, according to a diplomat who was in the room. Sweden’s Migration Minister Johan Forssell, a member of the conservative Moderate party, told POLITICO Monday’s deal was vital “to preserve, like, any public trust at all in the migration system today … we need to show that the system is working.” Stockholm, which has in the past prided itself on taking a liberal approach to migration, has recently undergone a Damascene conversion to the Danish model, implementing tough measures to limit family reunification, tightening rules around obtaining Swedish citizenship, and limiting social benefits for new arrivals. Forssell said the deal was important because “many people” around Europe criticize the EU over inaction on migration “because they cannot do themselves what [should be done] on the national basis.” The issue, he said, is a prime example of “why there must be a strong European Union.” SEALING THE DEAL Monday’s deal — whose impact will “hopefully be quite dramatic,” Stoklund said — comes two years after the EU signed off on a new law governing asylum and migration, which must be implemented by June. Voters have “made clear to governments all over the European Union, that they couldn’t accept that they weren’t able to control the access to their countries,” Stoklund said. “Governments have realized that if they didn’t take this question seriously, then [voters] would back more populist movements that would take it seriously — and use more drastic measures in order to find new solutions.” Stockholm has recently undergone a Damascene conversion to the Danish model, implementing tough measures to limit family reunification, tightening rules around obtaining Swedish citizenship, and limiting social benefits for new arrivals. | Henrick Montgomery/EPA Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, the Danish Council presidency and ministers were at pains to point out that Monday’s agreement showed the EU could get deals done. After the last EU election in 2024, the new Commission’s “first task” was to “bring our European house in order,” Brunner said. “Today we’re showing that Europe can actually deliver and we delivered quite a lot.” WHAT’S NEW The ministers backed new rules to detain and deport migrants, including measures that would allow the bloc and individual countries to cut deals to set up migration processing hubs in other nations, regardless of whether the people being moved there have a connection with those countries. Ministers supported changes that will allow capitals to reject applications if asylum seekers, prior to first entering the EU, could have received international protection in a non-EU country the bloc deems safe, and signed off on a common list of countries of origin considered safe. Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia are on that latter list, as are countries that are candidates to join the EU. But the deal also leaves room for exceptions — such as Ukraine, which is at war. Asylum seekers won’t automatically have the right to remain in the EU while they appeal a ruling that their refuge application was inadmissible. The next step for the measures will be negotiations with the European Parliament, once it has decided its position on the proposals. Max Griera contributed reporting.

European Council President António Costa intends to summon EU leaders to an informal retreat in rural Belgium next February to discuss Europe’s competitiveness. The meeting of the bloc’s heads of state and government will take place on Feb. 12 at Alden Biesen Castle, a XVI century moated complex in the eastern Belgian region of Limburg, Costa said in an interview with Portuguese daily Expresso. The informal summit on competitiveness will take place just a few months after the leaders debated the European Commission’s proposal to foster a pan-European industrial revival by merging cash for research, defense and innovation in the EU’s 2028-2035 budget. Shortly before taking office a year ago, the Council president said he wanted to organize periodic, informal meetings of EU leaders where they could discuss broad, strategic topics without the need to reach definitive conclusions. The objective was to create space for the kinds of debates that regularly derailed official summits chaired by Costa’s predecessor, Charles Michel. Although Costa wanted to hold the retreats outside the Belgian capital, security concerns obliged him to hold the first of these events in Brussels’ central Egmont Palace last February. During that session, EU leaders discussed issues related to the wider topic of European defense. Last week the bloc’s leaders attended an informal meeting in Luanda, Angola, where talks focused on the ongoing efforts to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine. During the wide-ranging interview with Expresso, which marked his first year in the Council presidency, Costa said the greatest challenge he has faced was that of stabilizing relations between the EU and U.S. President Donald Trump. That goal, he said, had been achieved, but he acknowledged that the dynamics between Brussels and Washington are “different” than they once were. Costa said it was essential for the EU to “remain calm, serene, and continue to strive to be constructive” when dealing with Trump, and noted that the relationship between Brussels and Washington is not “between equals.” The EU, he noted, is made up of 27 member countries “each with its own policies and interests,” while the U.S. operates as a single, federal entity.

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s environment ministers struck a deal watering down a proposed 2040 target for cutting planet-warming emissions and set a new 2035 climate plan. Following marathon negotiations all day Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, ministers unanimously approved the bloc’s long-overdue climate plan, rescuing the EU from the international embarrassment of showing up empty handed this month’s COP30 summit. The plan, which is a requirement under the Paris Agreement, sets a new goal to slash EU emissions between 66.25 percent and 72.5 percent below 1990 levels until 2035. That plan is not legally binding but sets the direction of EU climate policy for the coming five years. The range is similar to an informal statement that the EU presented at a climate summit in New York in September. Ministers also adopted a legally-binding target for cutting emissions in the EU by 85 percent by 2040. The deal mandates that another 5 percent reduction be achieved by outsourcing pollution cuts abroad through the purchase of international carbon credits. On top of that, governments would be allowed to use credits to outsource another 5 percentage points of their national emissions reduction goals. Ministers also backed a wide-ranging review clause that allows the EU to adjust its 2040 target in the future if climate policy proves to have negative impacts on the EU’s economy. The deal also foresees a one-year delay to the implementation of the EU’s new carbon market for heating and car emissions, which is set to start in 2027. Hungary, Slovakia and Poland did not support the 2040 deal, while Bulgaria and Belgium abstained. The rest of the EU27 countries backed it. Lawmakers in the European Parliament now have to agree on their own position on the 2040 climate target and negotiate with the Council of the EU before the target becomes law. 

BRUSSELS — A weeks-long stalemate holding up the latest package of sanctions against Russia was ended Wednesday night after Slovakia lifted its veto, the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU confirmed. The bulk of the package — the 19th to be imposed on Moscow since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago — focuses on sapping the Kremlin’s war chest by imposing restrictions on energy traders and financial institutions, many of them in third countries. Companies helping the Russian war effort will be targeted, in addition to 117 new tankers considered to be part of the shadow fleet that ships Russian fossil fuels in violation of the oil price cap. Earlier this week, energy ministers from 27 member countries agreed by qualified majority to a landmark phaseout of Russian gas, against the objections of Slovakia and Hungary. Slovakia had vowed to hold up the sanctions package unless it was given assurances on how to combat high energy prices and aid heavy industries like car making. Austria and Hungary had also expressed concerns over the sanctions package but lifted their veto in recent days. Slovakia was the last country blocking the new restrictions — and had sought concessions in the statement to be agreed at Thursday’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels. “All our demands … were included [in the statement],” a Slovak diplomat confirmed to POLITICO. The summit will seek to stress the EU’s support of Ukraine, in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure on Kyiv to cede territory to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join parts of the meeting in Brussels. Leaders are expected to emphasize the need to further hit Moscow with hefty sanctions over its war against Ukraine. Defense spending as well as the use of frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv are all on the agenda. The sanctions package will also significantly expand the number of non-Russian companies banned from doing business with the bloc in a bid to prevent Moscow from circumventing the restrictions. Defense spending as well as the use of frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv are all on the agenda. | Sergey Shestak/EPA Specifically, the bloc seeks to add export controls on another 45 companies that are deemed to be working together to evade sanctions. Those include 12 Chinese, two Thai and three Indian entities that have enabled Russia to circumvent the bloc’s sanctions. The package also restricts the movement of Russian diplomats within the EU. They will have to notify other EU governments of their movements before crossing the border of their host country. The package will now go through a so-called written procedure, where capitals have until Thursday morning to speak up. If no one does, the text is approved.

The European Commission will work on technical and financial details to build a drone wall to protect Europe against Russia, after a series of airspace violations by Moscow’s warplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles. “Today the frontline EU member states expressed their resolution in close coordination with NATO to work together to forge a united response against growing threats from Russia everywhere in Europe,” Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told POLITICO in a statement after a virtual meeting with eastern flank defense ministers. “Our response must be firm, united, and immediate. The Eastern Flank Watch that was announced by the President [Ursula] von der Leyen, would benefit all of Europe,” the statement continues. “In order to make this project operational as soon as possible, we will need to take swift action at the political, technical, financial levels, and in mobilizing our industry.” On Friday, the Commission gathered defense ministers from Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. Hungary, Slovakia and the Danish Council presidency were also represented. In a separate meeting where NATO was present as an observer, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal briefed them on his country’s “battle-tested expertise.” Participants agreed the drone wall should include detection, tracking and interception capabilities, the Commission said. Other assets should include ground-based defenses, such as anti-mobility systems, maritime security as well as space-based situational awareness. In a bid to bring Southern European countries and those more distant from Russia on board, both the European Commission and front-line nations insisted that Russian drones posed a risk to the bloc as a whole, not only Central and Eastern Europe. The drone incursions in Denmark — which the government says may be linked to Russia — show that “the threat is not limited to the eastern flank, that drones could be launched from a nearby ship or vessel,” Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said. The drone wall will be on the agenda of next week’s informal EU leaders’ meeting in Copenhagen. The Commission will now come up with “a detailed technical roadmap with national experts” as well as “build a comprehensive EU financial toolbox to make this shield a reality.” The project could be funded by the €150 billion loans-for-weapons SAFE scheme and the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Program (EDIP), but Brussels is also looking at other options. Ukraine, which has more than three years of battlefield experience against Russian drones, is ready to participate and provide expertise, including by sending technical teams to train EU and NATO armed forces, Shmyhal said. “Together with our allies, we will coordinate our counteraction to Russian provocations in the sky … We also discussed the participation of Ukrainian manufacturers in the project,” he added. Ukraine and the EU will sign a joint declaration in October. The drone wall idea was first floated last year but picked up steam earlier this month during von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech amid a growing raft of suspected Russian incursions across NATO countries. In the past month, UAVs have violated Polish, Romanian, Danish and Norwegian airspace; in the Polish case expensive missiles were used to shoot down at least three cheap Russian drones. The military alliance was forced to dispatch several fighter jets after three Russian MiG-31s aircraft loitered in Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. The incidents have highlighted the gaps in NATO arsenals. On Wednesday night, Denmark again had to close two airports in reaction to a fresh incursion, with drones also spotted across military bases and the country’s oil and gas platforms in the North Sea. The Kremlin has denied any involvement. While Kubilius previously said the drone wall could be operational in a year, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former NATO secretary-general and Danish prime minister, said that was “too slow.” Speaking at an online press briefing Friday, he said: “We do have capabilities to intercept drones. So it’s a question of deploying them, it’s a question of purchasing them. It’s a question of investment. So that’s why I urge governments to really speed up.”

Denmark summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen on Wednesday after Danish media reported that Americans with ties to President Donald Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland. Danish broadcaster DR reported that at least three U.S. citizens linked to the U.S. government were involved in activities that, reportedly, authorities fear could be used covertly to support Trump’s desire to make Greenland part of the United States. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the U.S. chargé d’affaires — currently its most senior diplomat in Denmark — had been summoned in response. He called any interference in Danish affairs “unacceptable,” and emphasized that Copenhagen “will of course not accept covert operations on our territory,” in a statement emailed by his ministry, according to the AP. “It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,” Rasmussen also said in response to a report in The Wall Street Journal. According to DR, one of the men compiled lists of Greenlanders supportive of, or critical toward, U.S. influence, while others maintained political and business contacts on the island. It was unclear whether they acted independently or under direction from U.S. officials. The move comes amid ongoing tensions over Greenland, a mineral-rich, self-governing Danish territory. Earlier this year, Trump told CNN that Washington would “100 percent” gain control of Greenland, even repeatedly threatening to use military force. Greenland is strategically important for U.S. military and Arctic security interests. Contacted by DR, Denmark’s security and intelligence service, known as PET, said the territory “is the target of influence campaigns of various kinds” and had strengthened monitoring in cooperation with Greenlandic authorities.