European Council, Zelensky requests additional 70 billion for 2027

The European Council opened in Brussels focusing on the energy price emergency and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. The first day of the summit closed with conclusions centred on three more technical priorities: the Union’s competitiveness, implementation of the single market agenda and the cutting of bureaucracy for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Present at the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted on the need to look beyond the current year:

“We must discuss not only for 2026, but also for 2027” — Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

According to ANSA, European leaders gave the Commission a mandate to draw up a proposal on the additional 70 billion euros that Kyiv considers necessary for 2027. The European Council’s conclusions also indicate support loans for Ukraine totalling 90 billion euros over the two-year period 2026-2027, in addition to 6.6 billion euros freed up under the European Peace Facility.

While on the Ukrainian front the summit produced figures and an operational mandate, on the Union’s multiannual budget the situation remains more uncertain. The Council has yet to reach a common position on the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework, while the European Parliament already adopted its own position with a broad majority six months ago. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola warned the assembled leaders about the difficulty of reaching an agreement that would also hold up in the chamber, recalling that the plenary needs 361 votes to approve financial measures, a mechanism different from the one required at the Council level, where the 27 member states count.

Parliament’s rapporteur for the multiannual budget, MEP Siegfried Muresan, expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the work:

“Disappointed by the lack of progress on the Union’s long-term budget” — Siegfried Muresan, EPP MEP, rapporteur on the EU budget

Muresan now expects an improved proposal from European Council President Costa by November. The picture emerging from the summit is therefore twofold: on one hand, a relatively swift agreement on a package of financial and military support for Ukraine, with figures already set out in the official conclusions; on the other, negotiations on the multiannual budget that remain stalled, with Parliament calling on the Council to take a step forward in the coming weeks.

The two-speed approach between the two files — Ukraine and the seven-year budget — leaves November, with the proposal expected from Costa, as the Union’s next test.