29 leaders gathered in Cyprus. As usual, the summit was about one who didn’t. – POLITICO
Over dinner, leaders talked about how to make the EU’s barely used mutual defense clause — 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 trying to respond to growing uncertainty over Washington’s commitment to European security without sending 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 making 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 budget. The debate has been sharpened by the economic pressure of the war and by calls for the EU to become more ambitious — and more independent from Washington. The EU budget amounts to around 1 percent of the bloc’s wealth, with capitals like Berlin opposing …
