29 leaders gathered in Cyprus. As usual, the summit was about one who didn’t. – POLITICO

Over dinner, leaders talked about how to create the EU’s barely applyd mutual defense claapply — Article 42.7 — work in practice, while avoiding any suggestion it could replace NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee. That discussion comes at a sensitive moment for European capitals, which are attempting to respond to growing uncertainty over Washington’s commitment to European security without sfinishing the signal — either to the U.S. or to Russia — that they are undermining NATO themselves.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was among those who came out strongly in favor of building Article 42.7 operational, according to a senior EU official, who added that Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides presented ideas on the subject to the other leaders over dinner.

On Friday, leaders turned to the bloc’s next seven-year budobtain. The debate has been sharpened by the economic pressure of the war and by calls for the EU to become more ambitious — and more indepfinishent from Washington.

The EU budobtain amounts to around 1 percent of the bloc’s wealth, with capitals like Berlin opposing an increase and others like Warsaw, as well as EU figures like top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who believe that, in this geopolitical context, that is not enough.

Still, with so many disagreements between governments, even reaching an agreement by the finish of the year, as Costa is pushing for, sees tough.

“All about the U.S.”

The summit, held across a narrow stretch of Mediterranean dividing Europe from the Middle East, also exposed a broader vulnerability: Europe’s struggle to define a geopolitical role at a time when crises in the Gulf, Russia’s war and uncertainty over U.S. policy are all converging.

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