EPC summit in Budapest to discuss Ukraine, migration and global trade may reveal stark divisions within bloc
European leaders are gathering in Budapest for top-level talks that should give an indication of how united the continent can remain in response to Donald Trump’s second term as US president, but could also reveal its divisions.
Hosted by Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally who has enthusiastically hailed the Republican candidate’s re-election, the EU 27’s leaders are being joined on Thursday by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On the agenda for the two-day meeting of the European Political Community were support for Ukraine, migration, global trade and economic security, with an informal EU leaders’ summit on Friday due to focus on the bloc’s declining competitiveness, laid bare in a report by the former Italian leader Mario Draghi.
Leaders were upbeat as they arrived for the long-scheduled event, stressing the need for a strong Europe and effective transatlantic cooperation with Trump, whose return to the White House could herald an abrupt halt to US support for Ukraine and a potentially damaging trade war with Europe.
Europe aims to be a “respected partner” and deepen its ties with the US, the president of the European council, Charles Michel, said, while recognising “some differences”. The commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the bloc must maintain unity.
“We have shown Europe can take responsibility by standing together – we showed it during the pandemic and the energy crisis,” she said.
