EU leaders gather in Brussels for their final summit of the year facing an array of challenges described by one senior EU official as a “minefield of issues”.
Ukraine, migration, and the ongoing civil war in Syria are among the topics to be discussed at the one-day summit which begins at lunchtime on Thursday.
Leaders of the so-called EU27 will meet again in the evening, without Britain, to discuss the bloc’s Brexit strategy, though no specific details of negotiating positions are expected to be disclosed.
With the battle for Aleppo still raging on the eve of the summit, EU leaders are expected to roll-over sanctions against Russia which fall due for renewal in January. Though technically linked to Russia's implementation of the Minsk agreement which sets out a peace plan for Ukraine, the EU's sanctions are viewed by many in the bloc in the context of Russia's actions in Syria.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande are due to update their EU counterparts on the latest progress on the Minsk agreement and the situation in Syria.
Officials in Berlin on Wednesday said that Germany expected EU measures against Russia to be renewed for at least another six months and does not expect any "surprises", such as new sanctions on Syria.
“I don’t see that it will come to a sanctions agreement,” said a senior Berlin official. “This is not a topic that has been prepared for three weeks at technical level but, due to the perpetually changing situation, is more something that will be discussed at leader level.”
However the official insisted that international diplomacy and foreign policy is “not just about imposing or not imposing sanctions”.
Dr Merkel spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin by phone on Tuesday.
Ukraine agreement
Less than 24 hours before the summit begins, EU officials were also scrambling to save an EU-Ukraine association agreement, following the defeat of a referendum on the agreement in March in the Netherlands.
EU officials said they were hopeful that a compromise agreement could be reached between the Netherlands and the remaining 27 member states that would allow the Dutch government to ratify the agreement ahead of Thursday’s summit.
Officials stressed that, while the EU-Ukraine association agreement was an important commitment by the EU to further links with Ukraine, it did not grant Ukraine candidate status to become a member of the European Union.
The Netherlands has been demanding legally-binding assurances from Brussels that the agreement will not commit the EU to opening membership talks with Ukraine or commit the EU to providing defence assistance to the country. But Ukraine is becoming increasingly frustrated that a commitment to grant visa-free access to Ukrainian citizens to the EU has not yet been ratified.
Also on the agenda is a discussion on the EU defence policy, and a proposal for stronger co-operation between the EU and Nato, amid recent calls from member states for the EU to strengthen its defence capabilities.
In his letter to EU leaders ahead of Thursday's summit, European Council president Donald Tusk said Europeans "must take greater responsibility" for defence. "Our aim is clear: to strengthen Europe's security in a challenging geopolitical environment, and to better protect our citizens. We need to give a strong, political impetus on key issues, in order to invest more and cooperate better amongst ourselves and with our partners."
Short-term priorities
Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, German officials stressed the need to focus on short-term priorities for EU defence co-operation, such as boosting military spending, equipment and training. “We have made more progress on this front, more than many people would have imagined even recently,” said a senior Berlin official of the recent Franco-German push.
They said while it was important to take into account concerns of non-Nato member states, that consideration worked both ways.
“Whoever wants to participate should, and those who don’t want to participate shouldn’t hold up those who do,” said one senior official.
