Overview
- After a one‑day retreat in Belgium, leaders voiced urgency and tasked follow‑up for March, with France signaling June as a target for concrete decisions, but no binding package was agreed.
- Emmanuel Macron renewed calls for joint EU borrowing and sectoral European preference, while Friedrich Merz rejected new common debt and warned quotas should be a last resort or broadened to trusted partners.
- Ursula von der Leyen pressed national governments to cut their own red tape and backed deeper single‑market integration and a savings‑and‑investment union to unlock private capital.
- Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta briefed leaders; Draghi endorsed targeted preference for strategic sectors, mobilizing Europeans’ savings, and using enhanced cooperation so willing states can move faster.
- Energy prices for industry in Europe are reported as more than double U.S. and China levels, and internal barriers equal to about 44% tariffs on goods and 110% on services were cited as key drags on competitiveness.