{"id":129043,"date":"2026-10-16T01:58:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/?p=129043"},"modified":"2026-10-16T01:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:58:56","slug":"eu-summit-energy-prices-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/2026\/10\/16\/eu-summit-energy-prices-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"EU summit opens split over energy relief and 2 trillion euro budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Turkish Post) \u2013<\/strong> European Union leaders opened a two-day summit in Brussels on Oct. 15 to discuss high energy prices, the bloc’s trade deficit with China and its next seven-year budget, with member states divided on how to pay for relief and how large the budget should be.<\/p>\n

The EU summit comes as oil trades above $100 a barrel and governments face pressure from voters before elections in several member states, including France’s presidential vote in April and May 2027. European Council President Antonio Costa has asked leaders to make progress toward a budget deal by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Energy prices open the EU summit<\/h2>\n

Energy was the first item on the EU summit agenda. Draft conclusions prepared for the EU summit describe high energy prices as an issue of “critical importance” and ask the European Commission for further short-term measures to ease the burden on households and companies.<\/p>\n

Italy and Greece have pushed to loosen the bloc’s fiscal rules so that governments can fund “temporary and targeted” energy relief without breaching deficit limits. Fiscally conservative member states oppose the idea and warn it would widen deficits.<\/p>\n

The draft conclusions also back a proposed one-year delay to EU rules on methane emissions from imported oil and gas. Gas prices have reached their highest level since the winter of 2022, and gas storage is below average for the season.<\/p>\n

China trade deficit on the summit agenda<\/h2>\n

The EU’s goods trade deficit with China reached 360 billion euros in 2025 and is on course to exceed that level this year. The Commission recently agreed with Beijing to limit imports of Chinese hybrid cars, a step EU officials described as a first measure.<\/p>\n

France and Germany have proposed urgent action on imports of chemicals and PET plastic from China and faster retaliation against countries whose trade practices harm the bloc. The draft conclusions ask the Commission to keep talking with Beijing while making full use of the EU’s trade defense tools. China has said that focusing on trade imbalances is an excuse for protectionism.<\/p>\n

Leaders split over the 2028-2034 EU budget<\/h2>\n

The next long-term budget, covering 2028 to 2034, needs the unanimous approval of all 27 member states. The Commission proposed a budget of nearly 2 trillion euros in current prices in July 2025. A compromise drafted by Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, cuts about 140 billion euros from that total and will serve as the basis for talks.<\/p>\n

Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, a group known as the “frugals,” want cuts of several hundred billion euros. France opposes deep cuts and wants new EU-wide revenue, including taxes on large companies, digital services, crypto-assets and online gambling. A group of countries known as the Friends of Cohesion wants more money for agriculture and regional development.<\/p>\n

No budget deal was expected at this EU summit. A special summit on the budget is planned for late November. Irish Europe Minister Thomas Byrne said a deal in December was possible “if compromise can be found.”<\/p>\n

Le Pen says France can no longer finance Ukraine<\/h2>\n

Marine Le Pen, the National Rally candidate who leads polls for France’s 2027 presidential election, spoke to reporters in Brussels on Oct. 14, on the eve of the EU summit. “We can no longer finance Ukraine,” she said, describing France as being in “an extremely perilous situation” because of its high deficit and weak growth.<\/p>\n

Le Pen wants to cut France’s contribution to the EU budget and called the adoption of a new budget before the 2027 elections a “democratic scandal.”<\/p>\n

Kallas criticizes US diesel deal with Russia<\/h2>\n

The EU summit also covers Ukraine and Russia’s hybrid attacks on member states. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, under which Russia would supply diesel, benefited Russian President Vladimir Putin without any concession in return. “The question is: what has he given in return?” she said in an interview on Oct. 15.<\/p>\n

Kallas defended Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, saying most of the money for Russia’s war comes from oil. “The ceasefire that was also announced is not really working on the Russian side,” she said, referring to the energy ceasefire Trump announced<\/a> on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Trump said should be replaced<\/a> after the diesel deal, is due to join EU leaders in Brussels on Oct. 16, the second day of the summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU leaders met in Brussels on Oct. 15 for a two-day summit on energy prices, trade with China and the next long-term budget. Marine Le Pen said France can no longer finance Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","jnews_video_option_group":[[]],"override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"custom","post_date_format_custom":"d\/m\/Y H:m","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"4","zoom_button_in_step":"4","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"2","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-715","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[222,86,223,221,54,225,224],"class_list":["post-129043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-brussels","tag-china","tag-energy-prices","tag-european-union","tag-headline","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-marine-le-pen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129045,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129043\/revisions\/129045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishpost.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}