{"id":456355,"date":"2026-06-11T11:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/11\/consiglio-europeo-costa-nellagenda-competitivita-ucraina-medio-oriente-e-lotta-alle-droghe\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:10:56","slug":"european-council-costa-says-agenda-covers-competitiveness-ukraine-middle-east-and-anti-drug-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/11\/european-council-costa-says-agenda-covers-competitiveness-ukraine-middle-east-and-anti-drug-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"European Council: Costa says agenda covers competitiveness, Ukraine, Middle East and anti\u2011drug efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The European Council is approaching and, as is customary, its president, <\/span>Ant\u00f3nio Costa, <\/strong>has sent an invitation letter to the heads of state and government of the European Union member states. Costa himself admits the current geopolitical context is challenging, and this is reflected in the agenda<\/strong>: \u201cWe will address several crucial issues for our citizens and our companies, including competitiveness and global economic challenges, the European Union\u2019s Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034, as well as Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Next week, the European Council will address several crucial issues for our citizens and our companies, including competitiveness and global economic challenges, the EU\u2019s next long term budget, as well as Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

My invitation letter to EU\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ant\u00f3nio Costa (@eucopresident) 11 June 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The proceedings will begin on 18 June<\/strong> \u201cby reviewing progress on the \u2018One Europe, One Market\u2019 agenda, together with the President of the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, and as part of the presentation of the main results of the Cyprus Presidency by <\/span>President Christodoulides<\/strong>.<\/strong>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Costa went on to explain that he would like to focus on \u201cglobal macroeconomic imbalances and their implications for Europe\u2019s competitiveness and prosperity.\u201d<\/strong> The aim is \u201cto develop a common understanding of the challenges and to provide guidance to the Commission on the way forward.\u201d Europe, Costa stressed, “must do its economic homework \u2013 but, at the same time, fair competition at the global level requires a level playing field.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 Moreover, t<\/span>he agenda, which foresees wrapping up work on 19 June, includes the Multiannual Financial Framework<\/strong>, for which “the Cyprus Presidency will present a first negotiating box with figures.\u201d The mandate of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU expires at the end of June, when the presidency will pass to Ireland. To guide the work of the new mandate, according to Costa, the discussion must focus on \u201ckey elements to facilitate an agreement by the end of the year. This includes making progress on new own resources (the revenue with which the EU finances its budget; there are currently three main sources)<\/span>, which will be decisive for matching our ambitions with the necessary means.”<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he situation in Ukraine also \u201cremains high on the agenda.\u201d For this reason, the discussion on the subject will begin by \u201chearing from President Zelensky.\u201d<\/strong> Ukraine, Costa wrote, \u201chas demonstrated renewed success on the battlefield, while Russia is failing to achieve its military and strategic objectives. Russia\u2019s increasingly reckless and irresponsible behaviour towards EU Member States is unacceptable and signals the opposite of strength.\u201d The President continues to support the Union\u2019s \u201ctwo-pronged approach \u2013 supporting Ukraine and increasing pressure on Russia,” which “is working.\u201d The Council will be an opportunity \u201cto send a signal of unity,\u201d and Costa expects \u201cto welcome the opening of the first cluster of chapters in the accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, an important milestone on their EU path.\u201d An end, therefore, “to a long impasse in the accession process of those two countries. Together with the momentum regarding the Western Balkans, as seen during our recent Summit in Tivat with partners of that region, there is a renewed impetus in the enlargement process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Costa also touched upon recent Russian incursions into EU airspace, such as the <\/span>accident in Romania<\/a>,<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/font> which \u201cunderline the urgency of advancing our shared defence readiness agenda, including by strengthening the EU\u2019s Eastern flank.\u201d Despite progress on defence spending, \u201cmuch more remains to be done.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 Another item on the agenda is \u201cthe Middle East,\u201d Costa noted, \u201cincluding the conflict in Iran and its broader implications, notably for energy prices\u201d.  Discussions will also cover the \u201cdramatic situation in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as developments in Lebanon, including continued EU efforts to support the ceasefire and the Lebanese state and its people.\u201d<\/span> <\/p>\n

The European Council will also revisit the issue of migration<\/strong>, a topic that is addressed at every summit. This is not a matter of starting a debate from scratch, but of reviewing the progress on decisions already made, \u201cto ensure that work continues at a high pace in all priority areas.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Costa has placed the \u201cproblem of illicit drugs\u201d on the agenda, \u201can issue that directly impacts the lives of European citizens and our societies,\u201d and which “requires a comprehensive, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.\u201d Following the adoption of the <\/span>EU Drugs Strategy<\/a><\/span>, he concluded, \u201cit is important to ensure its effective implementation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The heads of state and government of the EU member states are due to meet on 18 and 19 June for the European Council. The agenda reflects the current challenging geopolitical context, President Antonio Costa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7911,"featured_media":456339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","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_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[27175,26324,27335,27337,33394,30781],"class_list":["post-456355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-council-en","tag-middle-east-en","tag-ue","tag-ukraine-in-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456357,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456355\/revisions\/456357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}