BRUSSELS — The European Union is under pressure to keep Ukrainian troops fully online after Elon Musk’s Starlink was restricted amid volatile U.S. support for Kyiv.
“It was a very dangerous and unpleasant surprise,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters after EU leaders met in Brussels, referring to Starlink speed limitations experienced by military troops in recent days. “We were using Starlink to intercept jet-powered Shaheds [combat drones] that are attacking our civilian infrastructure and killing our families … When the speed limits were lowered, we became incapable of shooting [them] down.”
Ukraine has long relied critically on Musk’s satellite constellation for wartime efforts. Reuters reported Friday that the order to slow Ukraine’s military-grade Starshield service came from the White House, days after Washington pressed Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian refineries, amid soaring energy prices and ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“It is unacceptable for Ukraine’s defense — and therefore Europe’s security — to depend on the goodwill of a single American billionaire or on Donald Trump’s decisions,” French centrist Member of the European Parliament Christophe Grudler told POLITICO.
Ahead of Thursday’s high-level meeting, European lawmakers had been calling on the EU executive to fast-track Kyiv’s access to satellite capabilities already pooled under the bloc’s Govsatcom program — which gives participating governments secure communications capabilities.
Negotiations between the EU executive and Ukraine over this access have been ongoing since March, with no breakthrough. Norway and Iceland secured such an agreement earlier this year.
“What I don’t understand is why the European Commission and the Member States have not done everything possible to quickly reach an agreement that would allow Ukraine to benefit from it,” added Christophe Grudler, who wrote to EU leaders.
He also called on them to speed up work on IRIS² — the EU’s in-house, planned satellite network and full-fledged match to Starlink, which is only expected to come online in 2030.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed in a statement that it is “currently in talks with Ukraine to fully associate” the country with the EU’s Govsatcom program. “The war in Ukraine shows that our security also depends on space. And the EU has been doing quite a lot. We are ready to support Ukraine where we can support Ukraine,” he added.
Calls to crack down on dependence on foreign providers and boost alternatives to Starlink also come at a time when legislators are negotiating a series of laws that could tame Musk’s ambitions in Europe.
“Ukraine’s dependence on Starlink highlights the vulnerability of European defence systems that rely on U.S. technology, Another reminder that Europe must reduce its dangerous technological dependencies — ASAP,” center-right Finnish lawmaker Aura Salla said on social media.
Policymakers across Europe have been joining forces to curb Starlink’s dominance in low-Earth orbit, where satellites fly close to Earth to deliver faster connections.
“As legislators, we must ensure that European operators are well positioned in the market and limit the dominance of foreign players,” German center-left lawmaker Matthias Ecke said. In Brussels, lawmakers, including Ecke, are backing European telcos gunning for prized satellite frequencies, currently licensed to U.S. operators until next year and eyed by Starlink.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was working bilaterally with EU countries to secure more capabilities, citing France. He also expressed hopes that Starlink restrictions could be lifted. “My partners told me there were signals from the White House that they would return these capabilities.”
SpaceX — Starlink’s parent company — didn’t respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
EU leaders locked horns over everything from climate rules to migration policy and Ukraine’s long-term financial needs during two days of tense discussions in Brussels.
But despite calls for urgent action, the main takeaway from Thursday and Friday’s European Council summit is that key decisions have been delayed to a later date.
With elections looming in Spain and France, and as leaders’ positions seem more entrenched than ever, nothing of substance was put down in ink. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who made the trip to Belgium, did not receive much more than warm embraces and kind words.
Speaking to journalists during a packed news conference, Ukraine’s wartime leader urged his European counterparts to come up with a financial plan or risk facing an unprecedented migration crisis with “20 million Ukrainians” fleeing to Europe.
“The war will cost €155 billion next year. And we need at least €70 billion more from you — for defense, for weapons, and for our resilience,” Zelenskyy said. “This is a realistic amount. And I ask you to find this support. It will help us hold Russia back.”
But two diplomats told POLITICO that capitals wouldcontinue exploring a range of options to meet Kyiv’s needs, including a potential further loan from the EU.
Luc Frieden and Emmanuel Macron speak ahead of a round table during the EU summit in Brussels on Oct. 15, 2026. | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
A debate over whether to mobilize some €300 billion in Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine is a case in point. Nearly a year after EU leaders rejected using the assets amid objections from Belgium, France and Italy, several countries have asked for the option to be revisited, and top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas had said frozen assets would be on the table when leaders met in Brussels.
But after hours of talks about Ukraine, “nothing has changed,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “The money is not lost but in my belief nothing has happened since we had the discussion last time.”
“In the short term, money to support Ukraine must come from other sources than the frozen assets,” he concluded.
Two EU diplomats told POLITICO that the European Commission and EU capitals were working on other financing options, including seeking funds from Ukraine’s non-EU allies, mobilizing as yet untapped EU funds and drawing up another joint EU loan to complement the €90 billion loan they agreed on last year.
The leaders “didn’t spend a lot of time” trying to come up with a plan to fund Ukraine in 2027, after Zelenskyy said his country would face a €70 billion budget hole next year, European Council President António Costa said. “We agreed immediately that we need to address the additional needs of financing Ukraine in 2027 and asked Commission to come up with concrete proposal.”
Yet leaders declined to endorse any of those options during news conferences at the end of the summit.
Money talks drag on
The gathering had also been billed as a chance for leaders to break a months-old deadlock over the size and shape of the EU’s nearly €2 trillion long-term budget.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who leaves office next year ahead of a presidential election in April and June, warned leaders that he would no longer have a political mandate to ink a deal if no deal was concluded by the end of this year.
But despite hours of talks on Thursday, neither the frugal camp led by Germany — which advocates a smaller budget — nor the “Friends of Cohesion” group calling for a larger envelope had made any substantial step toward each other.
“I think [a decision] is possible by the end of the year,” Macron told journalists at the summit’s conclusion, adding that failure to strike a deal this year would not “be a good method from a democratic standpoint.”
Instead, leaders spent much of the two-day summit trying to gain a tactical upper hand over rivals on EU climate rules and migration policy.
Trench warfare
A push led Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to water down an emissions trading scheme known as ETS2 hijacked discussions for hours on Thursday. But despite wider support for Tusk’s position than at previous summits, it was easily defeated by countries that support the current scheme.
Donald Tusk and Peter Magyar shake hands before a round table during the EU summit in Brussels on Oct. 15, 2026. | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
On migration, Denmark, Italy and Poland led a determined effort to harden the EU’s position, proposing tweaks to the summit’s conclusions that would have explicitly linked irregular migration to crime rates and branded the phenomenon a threat to the cohesion of European societies.
The proposal, which ultimately won support from a group of around 10 countries including Hungary, according to two EU diplomats, also indirectly took aim at Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to regularize some 1 million irregular migrants has sparked clashes with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen.
Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the Commission would put forward an emergency response framework before the end of the year to allow EU countries to respond to a sudden mass movement, such as the one that caused chaos in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta over the summer.
But the effort led by Meloni and Frederiksen ended in defeat, with the proposed paragraphs deleted from the summit’s final conclusions, which only contained a truncated version.
Macron criticized the discussions on migration, saying they had been excessively “politicized.”
“It was a bad debate because it has been highly politicized and it has been a major source of division around the table,” the French president said.
This was supposed to be an EU summit about the EU’s long-term budget. But things are never easy for EU leaders, and world events have a nasty habit of making their way onto the itinerary.
That meant this European Council had a lot more on the agenda than the last handful of summits, at least: Energy, migration, enlargement, Ukraine, and more besides were covered — and very little, if anything, was decided.
Have FOMO because you weren’t there? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s POLITICO’s rapid roundup of what we learned at the European Council.
1) Energy stole the show right out of the gate
The summit’s first major clash came Thursday morning, with EU leaders split over whether to delay ETS2, the bloc’s second phase of carbon pricing, to address high energy prices, triggering a three-hour-long standoff.
Italy and Greece joined the Visegrád Four — Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — in calling for a delay, a push rejected by the majority of countries.
The debate dragged on, delaying lunch (spare a thought for our hungry leaders!) and leading to the cancellation of a press conference on Thursday night.
2) Budget negotiations are a marathon…
Negotiations on the bloc’s next long-term budget were expected to be one of the summit’s most contentious topics. But they were a nothingburger, with most leaders repeating positions they have held for months. The summit brought them no closer to a breakthrough.
Many countries, of course, want a smaller budget, with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson telling reporters that his country is “not an ATM for the EU.”
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, meanwhile, said he had no choice but to be frugal at the European level, arguing he is used to tightening his belt at home because his wife is Dutch. Think of Bart next time your Dutch friends ask you to pay them back for that coffee.
3) … and a sprint
European Council President António Costa is still aiming to get a budget deal before the end of the year, according to two EU officials. He announced that leaders will hold a special summit at the end of November to try and make progress (and there’s a December summit too). But that timing leaves them up against the clock to reach a deal by year’s end.
See you all back here on Nov. 26!
4) EU leaders may need to bring extra luggage next time
If leaders do hope to agree on the EU’s long-term budget this year, they should prepare for long negotiations in November and December.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested the pre-Christmas summit could last longer than the scheduled two days. “For the December summit, we should pack a few more shirts than usual,” he said. Gulp!
5) Your next holiday to Cyprus might be a little easier
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters he hopes EU leaders will discuss his country’s bid to join the Schengen travel zone at the December summit.
“All technical preparations have already been completed, and we hope that the matter will be discussed by the relevant council in December so that the final political decisions can be made,” he said.
6) Rose-colored glasses have come off when it comes to Costa
European Council President António Costa drew the ire of some leaders over his handling of negotiations to curb high energy prices, which had become a “mess,” three EU diplomats told POLITICO, with another two diplomats saying that leaders were fuming at Costa for allowing talks to go off the rails.
7) Drink (a little) less beer to help Ukraine
Ahead of the summit, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told reporters that supporting Ukraine costs each European the equivalent of one beer a year.
“That one beer is just a cost [for EU citizens]. There, it’s a cost of life. We drink less, their lives are saved,” he said. “Simple as that.”
He didn’t say whether he meant a beer bought in Stockholm or Prague. As anyone in Belgium knows, not all beers are created equal — or cost the same.
8) The EU Parliament wants you to know it matters too
The European Parliament’s two lead negotiators on the EU budget made the rounds of the press room to make sure journalists heard their views. Siegfried Mureșan (of the European People’s Party) and Carla Tavares (Socialists and Democrats) both stressed that the Parliament’s position is important.
Meanwhile, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola joined leaders for the first part of the summit. Metsola said she had made it clear to them that “the Parliament is not a rubber-stamp and never will be.”
9) Talking China (without mentioning China)
Leaders discussed trade imbalances (read: China) over lunch on Thursday and welcomed the deal the European Commission struck with China last week to curb imports of Chinese hybrid vehicles. Czech PM Andrej Babiš even went so far as to call the deal “fantastic.”
POLITICO scooped that the European Commission is expected to work on trade measures tackling imports of chemicals and industrial machinery in an effort to protect European industry from unfair Chinese competition.
10) New bromance brewing
Hungarian PM Peter Magyar posted a late-night selfie with Dutch PM Rob Jetten on social media after day one of the summit. The two were all smiles and “tired, but not sad”, as Magyar put it in his tweet.
In reaction to the tweet, Jetten told reporters, “We are more or less of the same generation and a tad more direct and pragmatic than some colleagues in the European Council, so there’s a click.”
We started at 7:30 this morning in Brussels. The second shift begins after 10 PM, with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten @MinPres. Tired, but not sad. pic.twitter.com/dmtSMbqG4m
António Costa announced that another competitiveness summit at Alden Biesen castle in the Belgian countryside will take place in February 2027, three EU diplomats told POLITICO.
Leaders already visited the castle earlier this year, and they clearly loved the Belgian countryside so much they want to return (or Costa is forcing them to go).
12) Still reeling from Ceuta
Ahead of Friday’s talks, 16 EU leaders met to discuss migration over breakfast (before discussing migration over lunch with everyone else).
According to one EU diplomat, leaders broadly agreed that the EU should be able to suspend asylum applications when faced with a sudden influx of migrants that may have been engineered on purpose. But would that mean the EU will implement pushbacks (which are banned under EU law)?
13) Denmark, Italy and Poland want to be tougher on migration
The three leaders joined forces to argue that migration is a concern for many EU citizens and is contributing to rising crime rates. That caused a delay to an already shockingly long summit.
14) There were some agreements
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez found some time on the sidelines of the summit to chat about Rome’s restrictions on Spanish nationals sparked by the Ceuta crisis.
Plus, France and Germany said they had struck a deal to favor European-made cars under the Industrial Accelerator Act in exchange for weakening a 2035 vehicle emissions target, ending months of wrangling between the bloc’s two biggest economies.
15) EU leaders get the good stuff to eat
Thursday’s lunch menu featured a “full-flavored vegetable jus.” Not a little flavor, not a medium amount of flavor, but the full flavor. Then on Friday there was a “rich jus”. There was also a Champagne sauce. Only the best for our leaders!
16) The same can’t be said for reporters
Some POLITICO journalists lamented the lack of vegetarian options at the Council canteen. Pray for us.
17) No harsh words from EU to Zelenskyy
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked whether EU leaders had expressed annoyance at his recent tone toward U.S. President Donald Trump. The question followed reports that some capitals were frustrated with him and worried he was further riling the White House.
But it was all love from Zelenskyy, who said there had been no harsh words during his time in the summit room. “I heard from my European colleagues support and only support, and I’m grateful for this,” he said.
18) No hugs for Fico
As Zelenskyy entered the European Council building, he was seen hugging and kissing fellow leaders — with one exception: Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico received no hug. That may well have been because Slovakia is preparing to revive a dormant cooperation forum with Moscow.
19) 20M Ukrainians could flee to Europe if Russia wins war
Zelenskyy issued a stark warning to Europe: if Russia wins the war, as many as 20 million Ukrainians could be forced to flee to Europe. Over 4 million Ukrainians already live in EU countries under temporary protection status, according to Eurostat.
20) EU leaders have forgotten about Britain … or have they?
There was plenty of talk across the Channel this week about the U.K. potentially rejoining the bloc, but the subject did not come up at the summit, even with an EU-U.K. summit due next month. EU leaders have more pressing issues on their minds.
Still, some had things to say about the U.K.’s relationship with the EU. Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “all our friends are welcome to join,” naming Britain alongside Canada, Norway and Iceland as partners seeking closer ties.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs suggested the U.K. “should come back to the family,” although he also said that Russia “had its hands on Brexit.”
21) At POLITICO, we save the best for last
Covering European Councils often involves a lot of waiting around, but during this summit conditions were a little tougher because of a phantom farter among reporters waiting for Zelenskyy’s press conference. POLITICO went viral in Brussels’ diplomatic and journalistic circles for reporting the hard facts on our live blog.
While this summit’s agenda was packed, in the end not many concrete decisions were taken. Some might say the summit was a load of hot air.
DUBLIN — The Irish capital, which doubles as Europe’s de facto tech capital, hosted two very different AI summits in the past week.
Most eyes were on the International AI Summit, the signature tech event of Ireland’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, where top brass from the world’s biggest tech firms discussed ways to harness artificial intelligence and minimize safety risks.
But the weekend before, a very different conversation was taking place at the Workers’ AI Counter Summit, as Ireland’s tech workers demanded a say in how the burgeoning technology reshapes the workplace and society.
Ireland’s lucrative tech sector has been rattled by waves of AI-driven layoffs — and the country’s fledgling tech union has seen an exponential spike in sign-ups from workers who are worried about their future.
There’s an “awakening” happening right now among workers in Ireland’s tech sector, and a growing “awareness that they’re not bulletproof,” said Sinéad Gibney, a social democrat lawmaker who previously worked for Google.
“I do think what we will see is that parts of roles will be automated, which means that people will be competing more heavily for the same roles,” she said. “They won’t have the same labor power and therefore we’re going to see a drop in quality of work, we’re going to see more zero-hour contracts, in more places than we already see it.”
The labor movement brewing in Ireland, where many of the world’s tech giants have their EU bases, is part of a wider trend among tech workers globally, who have seen their work disrupted by rapidly evolving AI.
Rise in layoffs
Ireland’s dedicated union for tech workers, the Digital and Techworker Alliance (DATA), has seen a five-fold increase in membership since it was first founded in 2023.
In its first year and a half of existence, membership hovered around 270 people. In the past year-and-a-half, it’s jumped to more than 1,350 members, DATA organizer John Bohan told POLITICO. He added that this number tends to spike around layoffs and other actions.
“The tech industry was founded on the idea that it would never have a union, because they’re making people rich, and treat them really well,” Bohan said. “But post-Covid, workforce adjustments happened again and again, with layoffs and declining conditions in the sector. We started to see more people wanting to get organized around redundancies.”
The spike in sign-ups coincides with a wave of layoffs in Ireland’s tech bubble (and the tech sector globally), as companies corrected pandemic-era overhiring, and diverted investment to AI.
Ireland hosts the EU headquarters of most of the world’s largest tech companies, and more than 170,000 people are employed in the tech sector, according to the country’s statistics institute.
Social media giant Meta has roughly halved its workforce in Ireland since the pandemic, axing well over 1,000 roles to offset AI investment and boost efficiency. Separately, Meta subcontractor Covalen also announced massive layoffs earlier this year, cutting more than 700 people.
Video-sharing platform TikTok announced this year it would shed around 300 Irish jobs, mostly from its trust and safety team, shifting the work to other countries, outsourced vendors or automated AI solutions.
A report by the IMF earlier this year warned that Ireland’s labor market is “relatively more exposed” to AI than many advanced economies, partly due to its concentration of tech workers.
The AI race is also creating new jobs on the Irish market – as AI firms like Anthropic and OpenAI are setting up Irish bases and trying to lure Big Tech workers with even bigger salaries.
Amid the uncertainty and volatility of the AI boom, tech workers are turning to unions for the first time as a safety net. One tech worker who used to work in trust and safety at a big tech firm told POLITICO that there used to be a feeling that as a “pampered” tech worker you “can’t ask for your rights, because you already have it so much better.”
But as layoffs continue and teams get leaner, workers in fields like trust and safety “now have to deal with these issues with fewer and fewer resources”, and face a “constant threat of being chopped,” the worker said.
That’s causing an “undoing of a certain perspective that we have of ourselves as tech sector workers,” they said, “because of undeniable experiences that now put us in situations where we clearly see our rights being violated, even if we may have it so much or somewhat better than most people.”
A different tech worker who currently works for Covalen told POLITICO that there is a sense that “if they believe they can replace you with AI, they will do that.”
“All these Big Tech firms only care about profit, and what I have realized is the Irish government protects that Big Tech capital [rather than workers],” the Covalen worker said. “But the question is, what’s the government going to do when the tech bros change their mind and move elsewhere?”
Workers at the center
The speaker list at this week’s AI summit was a flex of the country’s strength as a tech hub, as top names from the world’s biggest companies like Google and Microsoft took to the stage.
Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin, head of organizing and campaigning at Ireland’s Communications Workers’ Union (DATA’s parent union), was the only union voice on the line-up.
“The fact that 36 executives and industry bosses featured on the program, compared with just one trade union speaker — invited at the last minute after attention was drawn to the absence of workers’ voices — says a lot about the value the Irish government places on AI’s impact on workers,” she told POLITICO.
“The reality is that a meaningful conversation about AI’s future can only happen through genuine engagement with workers and collective bargaining,” Ní Bhrógáin added. “Without that voice, we risk deepening mistrust and resistance rather than creating the conditions for workers to shape these changes collectively.”
DATA organized its counter-AI summit the previous weekend, to put “workers at the center of the debate about power, AI, technology and the future of work.”
The event cut through the “hype and futurism of politicians and industry figures to focus on the real present harms faced by ordinary workers and communities,” DATA’s Bohan said.
The union is pushing for stronger legal protections for tech workers caught up in AI-driven layoffs in Ireland, including making it mandatory for employers to recognize unions during collective bargaining. It is also calling for a ban on cooling-off clauses that prevent laid-off workers from moving between Big Tech subcontractors.
A spokesperson for Ireland’s department for enterprise told POLITICO in a written statement that the government is “committed to strengthening collective bargaining and industrial relations” and has published an action plan to do so between now and 2030.
They said that employers already have to comply with obligations under Irish employment law, including consultation and notification procedures for collective redundancies, and workers who feel those rules have been broken can complain to the Workplace Relations Commission.
Firefighting to future-proofing
Naoise Ó Cearúil, a center-right Fianna Fáil lawmaker who chairs the AI committee, pointed out that while there have been high-profile job cuts in Ireland’s tech sector, “the actual net is that there has been an increase [in jobs], particularly over the past year and even five years.”
According to Ireland’s central statistics office, total employment in tech and related sectors surpassed 177,000 in the second quarter of this year, up from around 144,000 at the same time in 2021.
Ó Cearúil pointed out that many job losses were in trust and safety jobs like content moderation that are “very difficult mentally,” and now tech firms are able to “utilize AI and software to be able to do a lot of detection, rather than using humans.”
He has called for a national program to be established, to support workers whose jobs are at risk due to AI and automation.
A spokesperson for Ireland’s department of enterprise acknowledged that the country’s tech sector has “experienced significant adjustment in recent years,” but said the changes were generally part of wider global restructuring “rather than reflecting any Ireland-specific weakness.”
They said the Irish government is currently focused on “ensuring workers and businesses are equipped to adapt to technological change through investment in education, training, lifelong learning and digital skills.”
ABERDEEN — The SNP-led Scottish government is set to drop its long-standing opposition to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
Two senior members of the Scottish government — granted anonymity to discuss a strategy not yet ready for publication — told POLITICO the government will revise its energy plans to take a more pro-oil and gas exploration position.
Tests on compatibility with the government’s climate targets will remain, but Scotland will no longer begin from a position of opposition to new oil and gas projects. The move marks a major change in the Scottish government’s energy policy.
The Scottish government — led by the SNP since 2007 — released a draft energy strategy in 2023 which set out its “presumption against” new oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
That draft strategy is “out of date,” one senior Scottish government official said. They said a new strategy, expected by the summer, will not contain this wording. A second person with knowledge of the policy said the new strategy will “reflect the world as it is.”
The shift in policy comes with the U.K. government widely expected to give the go-ahead to the Jackdaw gas field next week.
While the Scottish government has little power over the granting of new licenses for projects such as Jackdaw or the Rosebank oil field — where a decision is expected to come separately and at a later date — it has an important symbolic role, and can apply pressure to the U.K. government to approve licenses.
SNP politicians at the party’s conference in Aberdeen privately admitted the stance on Jackdaw has hurt the party electorally.
The party passed a resolution at its conference Friday which stated that the “utilisation of domestic production” of oil and gas is “clearly preferable to importation”. This was seen as a further softening of the position of the SNP — which governed in a quasi-coalition with the anti-exploration Scottish Greens until as recently as 2004.
This resolution, which changes the party’s official policy, will be used as the government writes its new energy strategy, the two people quoted above said.
In the summer, the SNP lost a key parliamentary by-election in Aberdeen to the pro-drilling Conservative Party, where their North Sea messaging was a key focus. “It was bruising ,” the official quoted above said. “But we’d been shifting our position for a while.”
Speaking in the debate at the party’s conference Friday, the defeated SNP candidate in that by-election said the victorious Conservatives had hung the words ‘presumption against’ around “our necks lie an albatross.”
”We need to put to bed any suggestion that our party, or our government, supports a ‘presumption against’,” Richard Thomson said.
BRUSSELS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Friday that as many as 20 million Ukrainians could be forced to flee to Europe if his country falls to Russia.
“Russia is killing us,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press conference on Friday during a summit of European Union leaders, adding Ukrainians were being “pushed” out of their country. “They [Russia] don’t want to stop.”
In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainians fled their homes in Europe’s fastest and largest refugee crisis since World War II. Today, over 4 million Ukrainians live in EU countries under temporary protection status, with the largest populations in Germany, Poland and Czechia, according to Eurostat.
Zelenskyy’s stark warning comes as Ukraine heads into a brutal fifth wartime winter under Russian bombardment. Kyiv faces a budget shortfall of $30 to $35 million next year, according to projections from the International Monetary Fund — even accounting for a €90 billion loan Brussels agreed to provide last year.
The Ukrainian president traveled to Brussels to meet with European leaders and shore up financial support for his embattled country. While the EU is Ukraine’s staunchest backer, the bloc’s list of priorities is stacked with rising energy costs, looming elections, geopolitical crises and an impasse over its €2 trillion budget.
BRUSSELS — The leaders of Denmark, Italy and Poland are pushing the European Union to significantly harden its stance on irregular migration, according to three EU diplomats and draft language seen by POLITICO.
Migration “represents a concern for many European citizens and poses a challenge for the cohesion of our societies … and [is] negatively affecting crime rates,” reads a draft of summit conclusions circulated ahead of a lunchtime discussion on the topic at a leaders’ summit in Brussels, backed by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and Poland’s Donald Tusk.
“The European Council further underlined the importance of ensuring full control of irregular arrivals, including by avoiding measures that could create incentives for illegal migration,” reads the draft seen by POLITICO.
The bloc’s 27 leaders were due to discuss migration during a special session on Thursday requested by Meloni and Frederiksen following a tense back-and-forth with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in June.
Tensions have risen further after Spain’s Ceuta exclave was overwhelmed by migrants during the summer and as far-right parties have made gains around the bloc.
The draft also “calls the Commission to explore [a] possible consultation mechanism to encourage coordination on national measures potentially affecting other Member States while respecting national competencies.”
While the last phrase does not name any one country, Sánchez has clashed with Meloni over his handling of the Ceuta migration crisis as well as Spanish measures to regularize around 1 million migrants.
However, language discussing the impact of migration on social housing was removed from the draft over concerns that it could be perceived as provocative toward Spain.
One of the diplomats — who, like the others, was granted anonymity to discuss confidential information — said the updated draft was unlikely to win unanimous support from all the leaders, but had been proposed to bring the language closer in line with political sentiment and spark debate.
Spain’s conservative People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Friday demanded that the navy be sent to Ceuta following unconfirmed reports of a Moroccan patrol boat in the exclave’s waters Thursday.
“Morocco’s repeated incursions into Spanish waters are not isolated incidents, but rather a pattern of aggression that demands a firm response: Deploy the navy to the area. Summon the Moroccan ambassador. Recall our ambassador in Rabat for consultations. Demand explanations from the highest levels of the Moroccan authorities,” Feijóo wrote on X Friday, adding that “Spain is not for sale. Spain defends itself.”
The opposition leader is currently bidding to replace Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after the embattled socialist announced snap elections for Nov. 29.
Feijóo’s calls for a “firm response” are the latest in a wave of criticism of Sánchez’s government after more than 70,000 migrants arrived in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on the Moroccan border in late July. Migration ministers across the European Union have in recent months repeatedly demanded tough new EU migration policies.
His comments also come after unconfirmed reports that a Moroccan patrol boat remained in Spanish waters off the coast of Ceuta for hours Thursday, which the Spanish Civil Guard has denied. Moroccan warships also allegedly entered Spanish waters in July, though a European Commission spokesperson told Spanish press agency EFE Wednesday that it was “up to the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to clarify the facts.”
Feijóo spent Thursday morning at a summit of the center-right European People’s Party — of which the PP is a member — in Brussels, during which the EPP lashed out at the Spanish government over the Ceuta crisis in its closing statement, according to POLITICO’s Madrid Playbook. Conservatives have said they will implement measures to curb immigration if the government swings to the right after the snap election.
“Europe as a whole must recognize the failure of the Spanish government and exert the necessary pressure to prevent this crisis from becoming entrenched, spreading, or happening again,” Feijóo said in an opinion piece earlier this month.
Tensions over Ceuta and Melilla — which Morocco considers occupied territories — are becoming increasingly strained: A POLITICO poll earlier this week revealed that 58% of respondents believe an armed conflict between Madrid and Rabat is “likely” within the next decade.
In a landmark visit to the exclaves also this week, King Felipe VI said that Ceuta and Melilla were “an inalienable part of the political and national reality that is Spain. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country are not negotiable.”
The last time a Spanish head of state visited the territories was in 2007, when former King Juan Carlos I traveled to Ceuta and Melilla amid a diplomatic spat with Morocco.
The EU’s antifraud watchdog said it has passed on to prosecutors allegations of potential corruption at the European Economic and Social Committee, a Brussels-based body that advises the EU on proposed legislation and policy.
OLAF, the antifraud office, received a report from whistleblowers earlier this year saying there was a conflict of interest in the management of funds at the EESC, which is financed by the EU. It has now passed the case to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
OLAF’s press office told POLITICO it had sent the case to EPPO but added that it could not comment further.
The EPPO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The EESC was informed by OLAF yesterday that this case has been transmitted to the EPPO,” an EESC spokesperson told POLITICO.
“Under these circumstances, the EESC cannot comment further except to re-confirm that when these matters first arose, the EESC president immediately and proactively referred the allegations to OLAF. The EESC will continue to respect fully the independence of this process.” Séamus Boland of Ireland was elected president in October 2025.
“The EESC and its senior leadership take this matter very seriously and remain fully committed to integrity, transparency and accountability,” the spokesperson added.
The EPPO has significantly stronger enforcement powers than OLAF. Whereas OLAF conducts administrative investigations, the EPPO investigates crimes against the financial interests of the EU, and can search private homes or seize evidence.
OLAF has also been investigating a report that EESC executives tried to smoke out a staff whistleblower who raised the alarm about the funding concerns, the EU Ombudsman told POLITICO.
Anonymous letters, seen by POLITICO, say that IT workers at the EESC were asked by senior managers to identify which staffers had connected to the OLAF website in previous weeks.
The EESC said those anonymous letters contained “serious personal threats” and added that they were not made through the EESC’s “robust formal whistleblower process.”
BRUSSELS — France and Germany said Friday they had struck a deal to favor European-made cars under a landmark EU industry bill in exchange for weakening a 2035 vehicle emissions target, ending months of wrangling between the bloc’s two biggest economies.
Under the agreement, Germany would accept stricter “Made in Europe” — or local content — requirements for the automotive industry in the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, a longstanding French demand, while France would back Berlin’s push to relax the EU’s plan to phase out new combustion-engine cars.
The EU’s current target is for companies to reduce emissions from new vehicles by 100% from 2021 levels by 2035, with the possibility to “earn” 10% of emissions leeway through initiatives like offsets and investments.
France and Germany now want to soften the 2035 target to 90% but without having to offer investments in alternative fuels to compensate the remaining 10%, as proposed by the European Commission.
“This balanced approach will enable the European Union to pursue its climate objectives while strengthening the technological sovereignty, industrial base and international competitiveness of its automotive industry,” the two countries said in a joint statement.
“We hope that this Franco-German dynamic can swiftly lead to an agreement with our partners, for our jobs and our industry,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on social media.
An Elysée official on Friday made clear that, under the Franco-German deal, the scope of Made in Europe for automotive can be extended to the U.K. and Switzerland under certain conditions. — addressing a key concern of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government ahead of a Nov. 20 U.K.-EU summit in Brussels.
The agreement was reached after the German Social Democratic Party, the junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government, dropped its opposition.
“This is a modern realignment of German industrial policy that places significantly greater emphasis on preserving jobs and production sites,” said German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, who is from the SPD.
“The clear expectation for German companies is that they will use these new opportunities to make investments and guarantee jobs here in Germany,” he added.
CORRECTION: This article was updated on Oct. 16 after an earlier version misrepresented the figures in the Franco-German proposal on the softening of 2035 targets.
LONDON — Police are conducting a criminal investigation into a dispute connected to the founding of Your Party, a left-wing political party that was established last year.
A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police said it had launched an investigation after it received a report in September 2025 “relating to the alleged unauthorised access of a political party’s database.”
Officers recently arrested a man in his 20s on suspicion of an offence under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act, the spokesperson said. He was released pending further enquiries and has not been charged.
Officers also previously interviewed a woman in her 30s under caution in connection with the same investigation. The spokesperson added: “The investigation continues.”
Scotland Yard did not name any political party in its statement, and the spokesperson did not confirm which political party its investigation related to.
However, three other people with knowledge of the circumstances, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss an ongoing case, said the investigation relates to a long-running dispute connected to the establishment of Your Party.
The left-wing party was co-founded in summer 2025 by the former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and the former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, both of whom now sit as Your Party MPs in the House of Commons.
The two MPs clashed publicly over a September 2025 email that was sent to around 800,000 people on the new party’s mailing list, encouraging them to sign up as paying members. Sultana had promoted the membership portal while Corbyn described its launch as “unauthorised.” Sultana later said her sole aim had been to “safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential to building this party.”
Neither the man arrested, nor the woman interviewed by police, are MPs and neither have been charged with an offence. Neither Corbyn nor Sultana are accused of wrongdoing.
A Your Party spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate to comment any further about ongoing police investigations.”
They also said: “We can reassure our members and supporters that our systems are secure and that this was an isolated incident.”
BERLIN – Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz und der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron haben sich auf ein gemeinsames Vorgehen zum Auflockern des Verbrenner-Aus und zu „Made in Europe“ für Autos geeinigt, teilten beide Regierungen in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung mit.
„Unser Kurs bleibt unverändert: Wir streben eine deutliche Senkung der CO2-Emissionen an und stärken zugleich Europas Kapazitäten für die Entwicklung und Fertigung der nächsten Generation von Elektrofahrzeugen“, heißt es in der Erklärung.
Die beiden Regierungen wollen „mit ihren europäischen Partnern zügig auf eine Einigung hinarbeiten“. Das Paket verbinde „einen ehrgeizigen europäischen Dekarbonisierungspfad mit der nötigen regulatorischen Flexibilität, um unterschiedlichen Marktgegebenheiten und Technologieoffenheit Rechnung zu tragen“.
Umweltminister Carsten Schneider hatte die Einigung jedoch zunächst mit einem Brief an Kanzler Friedrich Merz am Mittwoch aufgehalten. Darin verlangte der SPD-Minister mehr Konditionierung für grünen Stahl, erzählten mehrere Beteiligte POLITICO. Am Freitagmorgen gab es Gespräche der SPD-Minister über das weitere Vorgehen. Im Anschluss daran gab Schneider seinen Widerstand schließlich auf. Aus Kreisen des Umweltministeriums hieß es, die Beschaffung von grünem und recyceltem Stahl könne man auch national regeln.
„Mir war wichtig, dass wir bei dieser Gelegenheit auch klima- und industriepolitische Fortschritte für die Stahlindustrie erreichen“, sagte Schneider in einer Mitteilung. „Es soll Anreize geben, damit Autos künftig mit klimafreundlichem grünem Stahl gebaut werden.“
Laut dem Abkommen würde Deutschland strengere „Made in Europe“-Kriterien für den Automobilsektor im „Industrial Accelerator Act“ akzeptieren, auf die Frankreich gedrängt hat, im Gegenzug wird das Verbrennerverbot weiter aufgeweicht, eine der langen Forderungen Berlins.
„Wir wollen nicht, dass in Deutschland nur noch Komponenten aus Asien zusammengeschraubt werden, sondern dass entscheidende Komponenten hier entwickelt und hier produziert werden“, sagte Vizekanzler und Finanzminister Lars Klingbeil in einer Mitteilung. „Dazu gehört auch die Batteriezellfertigung und alles, was wir für deutsche E-Autos brauchen. Er verspricht der Autoindustrie „mehr ‚made in Germany’ und ‚made in Europe’“. Nun seien die Automobilhersteller in der Verantwortung, „in die Zukunft der deutschen Standorte zu investieren und Arbeitsplätze zu sichern“, so Klingbeil.
Derzeit sieht das Ziel der EU vor, dass Unternehmen die Emissionen von Verbrennungsmotoren bis 2035 um 100 Prozent gegenüber dem Niveau von 2021 senken, wobei sie die Möglichkeit haben, sich durch Initiativen wie Ausgleichsmaßnahmen und Investitionen einen Spielraum von 10 Prozent bei den Emissionen zu „erwerben“.
Im Rahmen des vorgeschlagenen Abkommens wollen Frankreich und Deutschland das Ziel für 2035 nun ohne Nebenbedingungen auf 90 Prozent absenken.
Jordyn Dahl und Georgio Leali haben zu diesem Artikel beigetragen.
Dieser Artikel wurde am 16. Oktober aktualisiert, weil in einer vorherigen Version im letzten Absatz die Zahlen zum Vorschlag der Senkung der CO2-Ziele falsch interpretiert worden waren.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukraine’s announcement to end the truce on Russian energy facilities was “a disgrace,” following reports that an oil refinery was hit in Russia’s Ryazan region.
Regional Governor Pavel Malkov said the Ryazan refinery was struck in a large Ukrainian drone attack Thursday, though Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed this. It is the first reported strike on Russian energy infrastructure since Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Kyiv and Moscow last Sunday.
Russia continued to hit Ukrainian energy sites despite Trump’s announcement, while Ukraine held fire on Russia’s energy sector. On Wednesday, however, Zelenskyy announced the pause was over — a decision Trump sharply criticized, saying it would drive up global oil prices.
“All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” Trump told Newsmax Thursday evening, adding that he was “not a big fan of Zelenskyy” and he was “more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
“There are a lot of targets you can hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he’s not doing a good service for the world,” he added.
Relations between Kyiv and the White House have become increasingly strained since Trump announced last week that the U.S. would ease sanctions on Russian diesel imports, while Ukraine’s Starlink services were restricted.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed regret to the organization’s board on Thursday regarding his plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
“I apologized for the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process related to the … project, which then led to many consequences,” said Infantino after the meeting, adding that his proposal had dominated discussions.
“But what is important to remember is that it was a proposal — so in no way a done deal — just a proposal that actually intended to enable FIFA to invest more in our member associations, as opposed to replacing support from existing resources,” he added.
Thursday’s meeting in Zurich was the first time FIFA’s Council convened since the 2026 World Cup ended and details of Infantino’s controversial proposal came to light. The plan was hit with immediate backlash from football associations around the world, as well as high-profile figures like EU Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef and U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
The sell-off plan also prompted calls for Infantino to resign as FIFA president, while U.S. President Donald Trump stepped in to defend him.
FIFA Council Vice President and Football Association Chair Debbie Hewitt expressed disappointment that documents about the plan had not been shared with the board, saying many questions remained unanswered after the meeting. “I’ve repeatedly asked for the papers to be shared … In spite of the request today, I haven’t received them,” she told the BBC.
During the three-and-a-half-hour meeting, Infantino was also pressed about the contentious decision to suspend the red-card ban given to U.S. player Folarin Balogun during this summer’s tournament. FIFA said in a statement its legal committee would undertake a review of the body’s disciplinary procedures, and “a presentation will also be made at the next FIFA Council meeting in December 2026.”
BRÜSSEL — Frankreich und Deutschland konnten sich am Donnerstag nicht auf einen gemeinsamen Standpunkt zum Geltungsbereich der künftigen „Made in Europe“-Vorschriften der Union sowie zu größerer Flexibilität bei der Reduzierung der CO2-Emissionen und zum Verbot von Verbrennungsmotoren ab 2035 einigen.
Der Entwurf des Gegenseitigkeitsabkommens, über den POLITICO erstmals im Juli berichtet hatte, stellt eine bedeutende Annäherung zwischen den beiden Ländern dar und sollte eigentlich in Kürze unterzeichnet werden. Am Donnerstagabend geriet das Abkommen jedoch ins Stocken, da der Koalitionspartner SPD Einwände erhob. Befürchtet wurde, dass wichtige Umweltziele gestrichen worden seien.
„Eine endgültige Einigung steht noch aus“, erklärte ein Sprecher der deutschen Bundesregierung.
Anfang dieser Woche hatte der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron angedeutet, dass nun Deutschland am Zug sei. „Auf der anderen Seite des Rheins gibt es politische Zwänge, und ich respektiere die Koalitionsgespräche voll und ganz“, sagte Macron am Montag am Rande des Pariser Autosalons.
Gemäß den Bedingungen des vorgeschlagenen Abkommens würde Deutschland strengere „Made in Europe“-Kriterien für den Automobilsektor im „Industrial Accelerator Act“ akzeptieren, auf die Frankreich gedrängt hat, im Gegenzug für eine Abschwächung des Verbots von Verbrennungsmotoren, einer der langfristigen Forderungen Berlins.
„Angesichts der erheblichen technologischen, wirtschaftlichen und geopolitischen Veränderungen seit der Einführung des bestehenden Rechtsrahmens sollte das Automobilpaket ein besseres Gleichgewicht zwischen Klimazielen, industrieller Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, technologischer Entwicklung und der Stärkung der europäischen Wertschöpfung herstellen“, schrieben die beiden Länder in einem POLITICO vorliegenden Vertragsentwurf.
„Auf der Grundlage der deutsch-französischen Ministerräte in den Jahren 2025 und 2026 schlagen Deutschland und Frankreich daher ein ausgewogenes Verhandlungspaket vor, das ehrgeizige CO2-Reduktionsziele mit zusätzlicher Flexibilität und gezielten Anreizen für die europäische Wertschöpfung verbindet“, heißt es in der Vereinbarung weiter.
Derzeit sieht das Ziel der EU vor, dass Unternehmen die Emissionen von Verbrennungsmotoren bis 2035 um 100 Prozent gegenüber dem Niveau von 2021 senken, wobei sie die Möglichkeit haben, sich durch Initiativen wie Ausgleichsmaßnahmen und Investitionen einen Spielraum von 10 Prozent bei den Emissionen zu „erwerben“.
Im Rahmen des vorgeschlagenen Abkommens wollen Frankreich und Deutschland das Ziel für 2035 auf 90 Prozent absenken und im Gegenzug für Investitionen in alternative Kraftstoffe einen zusätzlichen Spielraum von 10 Prozent einräumen (was insgesamt 80 Prozent ergibt).
Entscheidend für die Stahlhersteller und die linke SPD in Deutschland wäre, dass das deutsch-französische Abkommen die Investitionspflicht für „grünen Stahl“ abschaffen und damit einen wichtigen Anreiz beseitigen würde.
„Das zerstört den Leitmarkt für die Stahlindustrie“, erklärte ein Lobbyist der Branche gegenüber POLITICO unter der Bedingung der Anonymität, um über dieses heikle Thema sprechen zu können. Da der Vertragsentwurf keinen Druck auf die Automobilhersteller ausübe, „grünen Stahl“ zu beziehen, werde dieser dadurch zu einem „nice-to-have“-Extra, erklärte die Person.
Als Zugeständnis an Berlin wird im Vertragsentwurf betont, dass der sogenannte „Utility-Faktor“ – mit dem die Emissionen von Plug-in-Hybridfahrzeugen anhand des Verhältnisses zwischen der Nutzungshäufigkeit des Elektromotors und des Verbrennungsmotors berechnet wird – auf der Grundlage von Laborergebnissen und nicht, wie von der Kommission gefordert, anhand von Daten aus dem realen Fahrbetrieb ermittelt werden sollte. Diese Änderung wird den Automobilherstellern helfen, mehr Plug-in-Hybride zu verkaufen und gleichzeitig die übergeordneten Emissionsziele zu erreichen.
Als Gegenleistung für diese Emissionszugeständnisse schloss sich Deutschland der Forderung Frankreichs an, den Geltungsbereich der „Made in Europe“-Regelungen im Rahmen des „Industrial Accelerator Act“ der EU in Bezug auf den Automobilsektor einzuschränken.
Der Text gilt nur für die 27 EU-Mitgliedstaaten und wird unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen auf das Vereinigte Königreich ausgeweitet.
Der EU-Industriekommissar Stéphane Séjourné erklärte am Dienstag gegenüber POLITICO, er unterstütze das Abkommen als Weg aus der Sackgasse, und fügte hinzu, dass das Vereinigte Königreich derzeit die Voraussetzungen für das Label „Made in Europe“ erfülle.
Die Vereinbarung könnte den Stillstand sowohl bei der CO₂-Verordnung als auch beim IAA beenden, bei denen Frankreich und Deutschland bisher auf gegensätzlichen Seiten standen. „Die Bestandteile dieses Gesamtpakets sollten so schnell wie möglich und gleichzeitig verabschiedet werden“, schrieben die beiden Länder.
Die britische Regierung begrüßte die mögliche Einbeziehung des Vereinigten Königreichs in die „Made in Europe“-Vorschriften für Kraftfahrzeuge.
„Dies ist ein deutsch-französischer Vorschlag, und es muss noch ein europäischer Prozess durchlaufen werden, aber sollte er bestätigt werden, begrüßen wir das Ziel, das Vereinigte Königreich in den ‚Industrial Accelerator Act‘ einzubeziehen – das wäre eine gute Nachricht für die britische Automobilindustrie sowie für die Arbeitsplätze und Investitionen, die sie im gesamten Vereinigten Königreich sichert“, erklärte ein Sprecher von Downing Street Nr. 10 in einer Stellungnahme.
Sollte der deutsch-französische Deal unterschrieben werden, muss es noch von den anderen EU-Mitgliedstaaten und vom Europäischen Parlament gebilligt werden, die derzeit über das „Industrial Accelerator Act“ und das Automobilpaket, einschließlich der Emissionsziele für Automobilhersteller, beraten.
Carlo Martuscelli, Francesca Micheletti und Graham Lanktree haben zu diesem Bericht beigetragen.
La volonté de la Commission européenne de rendre les milliards de l’UE plus réactifs aux crises à venir pourrait aussi les rendre plus exposés aux risques d’abus, avertit la Cour des comptes européenne.
Son président Tony Murphy alerte que les principaux piliers de la réforme du budget à long terme de l’UE, élaborée par la Commission, risquent de brouiller la vision des agents chargés de veiller à ce que les fonds publics soient dépensés comme prévu.
“Il nous est plus difficile de suivre l’argent”, a-t-il souligné. “On dit à l’Etat membre : ‘Voici une somme considérable, et vous faites en sorte que tout est en ordre.’ C’est en quelque sorte d’autocontrôle.”
Cet avertissement intervient alors que l’épineux débat du montant du budget 2028-2034 de l’UE est au menu du sommet des dirigeants européens à Bruxelles cette semaine, et que la Cour a constaté une augmentation des irrégularités dans l’utilisation des fonds publics.
Outre le montant total des moyens, se pose la question de leur répartition. Après un cycle budgétaire marqué par la pandémie, les guerres et les conséquences du changement climatique, la Commission souhaite rendre le prochain budget plus agile. Pour ce faire, elle prévoit d’en affecter environ la moitié — soit près de 1 000 milliards d’euros sur sept ans — à une enveloppe unique dans laquelle les pays pourront puiser pour remplir leurs objectifs dans des domaines comme l’immigration, l’agriculture ou le développement régional.
Ces fonds destinés à l’agriculture et au développement régional — souvent octroyés sous forme de subventions aux exploitations agricoles et aux projets locaux — sont depuis longtemps exposés à la fraude et aux détournements.
Selon Tony Murphy, accorder aux gouvernements nationaux une plus grande marge de manœuvre pour réorienter leurs dépenses rendrait le suivi de ces dernières encore plus difficile.
“Il y aura une certaine flexibilité, mais à quel prix ?”, a-t-il soulevé lors d’une interview. Une grande partie du contrôle dépendra des mesures de surveillance que chaque pays a déjà mises en place.
D’autant que les irrégularités dans l’utilisation des fonds du budget de l’UE sont en hausse. Les erreurs de versement se sont élevées à 5 milliards d’euros l’année dernière, selon le dernier rapport de la Cour des comptes européenne.
Dans le prochain budget de l’UE, il pourrait même s’avérer impossible d’estimer ce chiffre, a prévenu Tony Murphy, car les auditeurs de chaque pays ont des rôles et des méthodes de travail différents. “Année après année, nous avons constaté que le travail de ces autorités d’audit n’est pas entièrement fiable”, a renchéri son chef de cabinet, Wolfgang Stolz, lors de l’entretien.
Dans un communiqué, la Commission a défendu sa proposition, soulignant que les “principes fondamentaux” du système de contrôle actuel resteraient en vigueur. Les autorités nationales “fonctionnent bien”, a-t-elle affirmé, tout en précisant qu’elle se réservait le droit de demander aux Etats membres de “modifier le plan ou de mettre en place des mécanismes de correction si nécessaire”.
Des fonds mélangés aux budgets nationaux
L’une des innovations proposées par la Commission consiste à intégrer la politique agricole commune (PAC) — qui constituait jusqu’à présent une ligne budgétaire à part entière — dans un fonds gigantesque appelé plan de partenariat national et régional.
Tony Murphy a souligné qu’il ne prônait pas un modèle plutôt qu’un autre. Mais à mesure que les fonds européens s’intègrent de plus en plus aux budgets nationaux, il sera plus difficile pour Bruxelles de contrôler où va réellement son argent. La PAC est plus facile à contrôler lorsqu’“elle n’est pas mélangée à ce méli-mélo”, a estimé le président de la Cour des comptes européenne.
Les articles de presse sur des subventions agricoles versées pour de faux pâturages en Grèce ou sur des fonds destinés à soutenir le tourisme rural en Slovaquie qui financent de luxueuses villas pour les riches illustrent de manière frappante la difficulté de contrôler ces versements dans le cadre du système actuel.
Et le modèle sur lequel repose le nouveau système de dépenses — le fonds de relance post-Covid de l’UE — n’est pas de bon augure, a pointé Tony Murphy. Si les pays ont désormais plus de facilité à affecter les fonds là où ils sont nécessaires, les dépenses sont également devenues plus opaques. Les nouveaux plans nationaux ont été élaborés selon le même modèle.
Dans le cadre du système budgétaire actuel, la Cour des comptes européenne peut se rendre physiquement sur place dans une exploitation agricole bénéficiant de fonds européens. En revanche, dans le cadre du fonds de relance post-Covid, l’UE ne publie chaque année que la liste des 100 principaux bénéficiaires.
“Ce n’est pas très transparent. Je veux dire, où va réellement l’argent de l’UE ? C’est ça qui compte”, a insisté Tony Murphy. “On a un fonds qui regroupe différentes politiques publiques, avec des objectifs et des échéances complètement différents, des mécanismes de mise en œuvre différents et moins de prévisibilité.”
Cet article a d’abord été publié par POLITICO en anglais, puis a été édité en français par Jean-Christophe Catalon.
It’s been a packed agenda at the European Council summit, with little sign of progress on key issues. EU leaders continued to argue over the bloc’s long-term budget, with energy supply and security taking up much of the discussion … including questions over strategic gas reserves and the future of the Emissions Trading System.
The war in Ukraine looms large over the summit. Earlier this week, President Trump alarmed European leaders and horrified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by announcing a deal to release Russian diesel onto the U.S. market, apparently in an attempt to lower fuel costs for American consumers.
Host Sarah Wheaton unpacks developments late into the night with colleagues who have been reporting on the summit. She’s joined by Chief EU Correspondent Zoya Sheftalovich, Chief Political Correspondent in Europe and the U.K. Tim Ross and Gregorio Sorgi, financial services reporter.
Friedrich Merz reist morgen zum Deutschlandtag der Jungen Union nach Bonn und trifft auf eine Parteijugend, die nach dem Rentenstreit des Vorjahres weiter voller Frust steckt. Die vielleicht nicht jungen, aber jüngeren Mitglieder um Johannes Winkel wollen endlich Reformen. Ob der Parteichef die Basis befrieden kann, ordnet Rasmus Buchsteiner von Bonn aus ein.
Im 200-Sekunden-Interview skizziert die Parlamentarische Geschäftsführerin der Unions-Fraktion, Catarina dos Santos-Wintz,, wie ein zukunftsfestes Gesamtpaket ihrer Meinung nach aussehen muss und warum die Junge Union und die Junge Gruppe der Fraktion beim Thema Generationengerechtigkeit keine faulen Kompromisse mehr akzeptiert.
Auf dem EU-Gipfel in Brüssel ringen die Staats- und Regierungschefs derweil um die wirtschaftliche Zukunft Europas. Hans von der Burchard analysiert das Treffen, sowie den neuen handelspolitischen Härtetest mit China. Zudem zeigt sich, wie dramatisch die Finanzierungslücke bei der Ukraine-Hilfe angesichts bröckelnder US-Unterstützung wirklich ist.
Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Rixa Fürsen, Maximilian Stascheit und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig.
Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren.
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Customs union, single market, rejoin, second referendum. It’s all feeling a little Ground Hog day in Westminster after Andy Burnham reopened the Europe question at Labour Party conference.
Hosts Sascha O’Sullivan and Pat Baker find out how the row over Europe will play out in the next few years, with Reform MP Danny Kruger and Labour MP Stella Creasy.
Sascha speaks to Cecilia Malmström, former EU Trade Commissioner during the Brexit negotiations, who says any new deal with the EU would need to be “Nigel Farage-proofed” in case Reform wound up in Downing Street.
UK-EU reporter Jon Stone explains what Burnham is hoping to gain from the EU summit next month, and whether Britain’s friends in Brussels care about Westminster looking again at Britain’s relationship with the trading bloc.
LONDON — The Liberal Democrats used to watch their rivals indulge in messy factional squabbles with glee. Now they are scrambling to project an image of unity.
Britain’s third-largest Westminster group could hold significant power after the next election if no party wins a majority of MPs and Prime Minister Andy Burnham is casting around for a deal.
But for now, the focus is on weathering an internal storm in the centrist outfit. MPs rallied around their leader Ed Davey this week at a marathon four-hour meeting — held days after one of his frontbenchers resigned in an ill-fated attempt to oust the party chief.
The botched coup comes as the Liberal Democrats try to answer a more existential question: what are they actually for and how do they make an impact in Britain’s fragmented political landscape?
POLITICO’s Poll of Polls shows the Lib Dems coasting along. After getting 12.2% in the 2024 general election — and bagging a record 72 members of parliament as a result — the party has slipped down, polling between 9% and 11% since Andy Burnham became prime minister.
POLITICO explains why Lib Dems are now openly discussing Davey’s future; how much danger he is in; and exactly how the man known for a cheery demeanor and eye-catching paddle-board stunts could be capsized.
1) Why is Davey’s future in the headlines?
The surprise resignation of the Lib Dems’ Treasury spokesperson Charlie Maynard a week ago triggered the latest round of soul-searching about the leader’s future — but the grumbling goes back a bit further.
Maynard’s resignation followed costly tax-cutting pledges from Davey at the party’s conference in September and came hot on the heels of sharp responses — including from 2024-intake Lib Dem MPs Tom Gordon and Vikki Slade — to the way Davey defended an existing guarantee on state pensions. Some MPs believe the party isn’t adequately representing younger voters by opposing changes to the so-called triple lock, now targeted for reform by Burnham.
The immediate threat looks to have receded. Maynard’s resignation has gone down badly among a host of colleagues.
One Lib Dem frontbencher — granted anonymity to speak about internal matters like others in this piece — said the “vast majority of us think it’s beyond ridiculous and are really angry.” A second frontbencher said it was “bang out of order” for colleagues to brief internal policy discussions to the press.
2) So he’s safe?
Not quite — fizzled plots like this have a habit of still bringing grumbling to the surface (just ask Theresa May)
There remains frustration among some MPs over Davey’s perceived failure to exploit a gap in British politics opened up by voters’ deep dislike of Keir Starmer’s Labour government after the 2024 general election.
YouGov’s Anthony Wells explains that the party was stagnant “during a period where the Starmer government came in, became extremely unpopular [and] lost a huge amount of support” that “didn’t go to them.”
He contrasted this with how the Lib Dems gained traction in the 2000s when the Labour government was in big trouble. The Lib Dems are normally good at grabbing “the low-hanging fruit of unpopular left-of-center governments.”
“They haven’t nailed their colors really firmly to any mast,” says Wells. “They have been something to all men — and it means they may have suffered in comparison to people like the Greens under [leader] Zack Polanski, who’ve been much clearer about what they stand for.”
Removing a Lib Dem leader remains reasonably easy — though a crunch meeting of the parliamentary party on Tuesday suggests there currently aren’t enough MPs to actually trigger a ballot of no confidence, let alone win one.
Eighteen MPs (25% of the parliamentary party) would need to push for a vote of no confidence to be held. An absolute majority — 36 MPs — would then have to vote no confidence in Davey for a leadership election to be triggered.
Davey could stand in that leadership election if he could secure nominations from 10% of Lib Dem MPs and 200 members from at least 20 different local parties.
Unlike in the Conservatives, where a leader cannot be challenged again for a year after they win a no-confidence vote, Davey would be given no such grace period if he survived — meaning another ballot could take place just months after he saw off a coup attempt.
3) What’s the view from Davey world?
The arguments in the leader’s favor appear to have won out — for now.
For one, he has a record of winning. Davey can point to having taken the party to its largest number of constituencies in its modern form by focusing on a fight-by-fight, seats-first strategy. The 2024 campaign prioritized targeted campaigning in specific areas, rather than seeking a higher national vote share that doesn’t translate to a high number of MPs.
Loyal allies have come out to bat for their embattled boss this week. Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, seen as a possible future leadership contender, said there’s a “real sense that we need to come together as a group” to stop the Tories and Reform UK “from forming the most right-wing government in our history.”
Subtext: let’s not mess around and let our real enemies in.
A third frontbencher told POLITICO Davey doesn’t “just have the support of the parliamentary party — there clearly aren’t anything like enough MPs to trigger a vote of no confidence.” They said Davey changing his top team earlier this year by appointing James Holt as director of political strategy and Ruth Younger as chief of staff “just needs time to percolate.”
4) So can Davey just keep calm and carry on?
Maybe.
Wells believes the party doesn’t “necessarily need to do much” to hold its current crop of seats at the next election — and that a middle-of-the-road approach against flashier, potentially more divisive opponents — might actually work in its favor.
While “their brand may be less distinctive, it also means they’re more coalition-able,” Wells says. He points out that there’s already much less objection from Labour about working with the Lib Dems compared to the Greens, who Burnham this week threatened to can local power-sharing agreements with amid a row over anti-semitism.
“There is a strategic advantage to them in terms of not offending people, but there’s also a strategic weakness in not defining yourself very clearly,” he says.
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