EUCO Meets With MidEast, Ukraine, LT Budget & Migration On Agenda

The European Council meets on 26 October in Brussels with a number of major geopolitical and macroeconomic issues on the agenda. Member state leaders due to start arriving at 1400CET (0800ET, 1300BST) and doorstep comments can be watched here.

• Wires have reported that the draft EUCO conclusions call for "humanitarian corridors and pauses" to get aid into Gaza, but one of the meeting's main aims will be to reach a united EU line on the conflict after weeks of indecision regarding the bloc's stance on aid and the Israeli response to Hamas' 7 Oct attack.
• This EUCO summit could prove an ill-tempered one. This will be the first meeting of EU gov't heads since Hungarian PM Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing. The meeting went down very poorly with EU and member state leaders, coming as a signal of a crack in the EU's stance against Russia.
• This meeting also sees the return of Slovakian PM Robert Fico. Appointed on 25 Oct, this is Fico's third stint as PM and since his previous terms his stance has shifted in a eurosceptic and Russophile direction. As such, he and Orban could prove difficult partners for the EU to work with at this summit, which continues into 27 Oct.