EU leaders agree to move ahead with ‘Buy European’ policy

‘The pressure and the sense of urgency is enormous and that can move mountains,’ said Ursula von der Leyen after the meeting, which included Emmanuel Macron. Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

EU leaders agreed to move ahead with a “Buy European” policy to protect “strategic sectors” of European industry, at a summit on how to secure the continent’s future in a more volatile global economy.

At a moated castle in the east Belgian countryside, the EU’s 27 leaders gathered on Thursday for a brainstorming session on how Europe could regain its economic competitiveness relative to the US and China at a time of economic threats and political turbulence.