Summary of the day
Heads of state and government from the EU’s 27 members met in Brussels for the first day of their summit.
Addressing the situation in the Middle East, the leaders called “for an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
The leaders condemned Hamas and said they are “deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and its disproportionate effect on civilians, particularly children, as well as the imminent risk of famine caused by the insufficient entry of aid into Gaza.”
The leaders also discussed the issue of using windfall profits of frozen Russian assets. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, “there is a strong support to use” the profits “for military purposes for Ukraine.”
The EU leaders agreed that “further to the submission of the draft negotiating frameworks for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the European Council invites the Council to swiftly adopt them and to take work forward without delay.”
They also decided to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Von der Leyen said there is a proposal “to increase tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports of cereals, oil seeds and derived products.”
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressed EU leaders via videoconference, calling for more help with air defences and ammunition, as well as progress on Ukraine’s path toward European integration.
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, broke ranks with his European counterparts and congratulated Vladimir Putin on his “re-election”.
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The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that she is glad leaders opened the way to using some of the revenue from frozen Russian assets to provide funding for military equipment for Ukraine.
“We can expect to collect around €3bn for 2024, and similar amounts in the future years,” von der Leyen said.
She later noted in response to a question that “there is a strong support to use” the profits “for military purposes for Ukraine.”
“I told the leaders that if we are swift now in concluding the proposal, we could disperse the first billion to Ukraine on 1 July,” she said.
The Commission chief also said that there is a proposal “to increase tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports of cereals, oil seeds and derived products.”
Addressing the issue of European defence, von der Leyen said member states have already boosted spending “but we have to strengthen Europe’s defence industrial base.”
“We do not only need to spend more – we need to spend better, and we need to spend European,” she stressed.
On the Middle East, she said “we are on the verge of famine, a catastrophic humanitarian situation. Full rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access into Gaza via all routes is essential. 500 trucks or equivalent a day need to enter Gaza on land or by air and sea.”
She added:
“I think the unity was very strongly felt: acknowledgement that Israel has the right to do everything possible that 7 October will never happen again within the boundaries of international law and international humanitarian law but it has also the duty to do everything possible to protect civilian life. If you look at the conclusions, they are explicit on that one.”
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