Ukraine, EU Defence & Agriculture On Agenda At EUCO Summit

The European Council summit (EUCO) gets underway from 1300CET (0800ET, 1200GMT) with a number of significant issues included in the draft conclusions, such as the war in Ukraine, EU defence and security, the situation in the Middle East, agriculture, migration, and EU enlgargement.

• On EU defence policy, Politico notes that "With budgets tight, the idea of issuing another round of joint EU bonds is gaining traction. A south-east alliance led by France, Estonia and Poland has formed in favor of joint borrowing. The biggest skeptics: Germany and the Netherlands." The prospect of an agreement being reached in the short-to-medium term on the issue of joint issuance to fund defence projects is slim-to-none.
• There will also be discussion on the proposal to confiscate windfall profits on frozen Russian assets. A Commission plan would see 90% of the funds go into the European Peace Facility to purchase munitions for Ukraine, and 10% go to the EU budget to finance the Ukraine Facility, intended for reconstruction. There remain significant issues around the use of these funds, both from a legal standpoint but also the fact that neutral countries (Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta) and more Russophile EU members (Hungary, Slovakia) do not want to be associated with sending weapons to Ukraine.
• On agriculture, Polish PM Donald Tusk is seen as leading the charge on restricting Ukrainian grain imports in order to protect domestic farmers. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is seeking the imposition of tariffs on Russian grain in order to dissuade imports into the EU, which have risen in recent months.