Today the EU summit in Cyprus, on the table Ukraine, the Middle East, energy and budget

Ukraine war in Middle East, energy crisis, mutual defense of the EU and the next one budget 2028-2034 will be the dossiers on the table of the EU leaders, who from today will be at Cipro for the informal of European Council. A meeting which takes place in the country closest to the areas affected by the new tensions in the Middle East and which, precisely for this reason, the Cypriot presidency also considers a “photo opportunity” to reassure tourists about the safety of the island, in an attempt to contain cancellations in view of the summer season. The meeting of heads of state and government will begin this evening, with the first arrivals expected at 6pm.

The program

The dinner will be held in the seaside resort of Agia Napa, where he is also expectedVolodymyr Zelensky, in person and no longer via video connection as had been announced. His intervention is now a constant feature of EU leaders and this time it could take place in a different context: the release of the loan to Ukraine and the green light for the twentieth package of sanctions against Russia are expected within hours, until now frozen by the veto offormer Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbánwhich had made the motto “no oil, no coin” its negotiating line.

However, on Tuesday the news arrived that theUkraine is ready to put the Druzhba pipeline back into operationdamaged by Russian raids and became the fulcrum of the tug of war between Kiev and Budapest. Also this evening, leaders will address the conflict in Iran and the Middle East, which poses serious challenges to the European Union.

The expensive fuel

“We must discuss our response to this rapidly evolving situation, including the contribution of Europe at the deescalation and peace in the region, as well as freedom of navigation. Furthermore, the effects of high fossil fuel prices are already visible in the daily lives of our citizens and businesses,” European Council President Antonio Costa wrote in the invitation letter.

Hence the discussion on article 42.7 of EU Treatyrelating to mutual defenseand on the Union’s ability to react to attacks. The Cypriot presidency’s wishes also include a reference to the security of the British bases on the island, but at the moment the topic does not appear in the official programme.

The heaviest dossier: the Multiannual Financial Framework

On Friday the leaders move to Nicosia where during the morning they will discuss the Multi-annual financial framework. It is the heaviest dossier, and the states find themselves having to discuss for the first time the “own revenues”, i.e. the contributions that each country is willing to put into the next European budget 2028-2034. The discussion, on which the European Parliament has already adopted its negotiating position, should lead to the definition of a text by the end of the year. Costa called the issue “urgent” and announced that it will return “regularly” in 2026 to create the conditions for a timely agreement. At the end of the work on Friday morning, an informal lunch will be held with the 27 EU leaders, in which the leaders of Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council will also participate, for a discussion on the situation in the Middle East.