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First modification: 02/13/2026 - 01:49
European leaders meeting in a Belgian castle agreed that the bloc's economy needs an immediate boost in the face of pressure from major global economic powers. However, divisions remain over joint debt, protectionism and sending funds to Ukraine to assist it while it is at war.
The main leaders of the European Union (EU) met at Alden Biesen Castle, in Belgium, with an objective that has been pursuing the bloc for years and that now takes on an urgent nature: how to prevent Europe from being left behind in the face of the economic push of the United States, China and even India?
The meeting, presented as a “strategic brainstorm,” was not designed to produce immediate decisions, but rather to align positions regarding a shared diagnosis.
At the meeting, everyone started from the key idea that the European economy is going through a period of low growth, structural difficulties and increasing geopolitical pressure.
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To give an example, Germany, the bloc's largest economy, barely manages to avoid an annualized recession, while France faces persistent tensions over its fiscal deficit. A gloomy outlook at the macroeconomic level, not to mention that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the Eurozone's gross domestic product to grow this year by only 1.3%, well below the 2.4% that the United States is expected to grow, and a minuscule number when compared to the solid economic growth projected for China (4.5%) and India (6.4%).
Despite previous differences, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz showed a common front.
“We share this sense of urgency that our Europe must act very clearly” in the face of “very strong pressure,” Macron said, alluding to both Chinese competition and US tariffs. Merz agreed on the need for a “faster” and more effective European Union.
"We want to make this European Union faster, we want to improve it and, above all, we want to make sure that we have a competitive industry in Europe," Merz told the international press outside the castle.
How to unlock private investment was also on the agenda. European companies face greater obstacles to accessing capital and scaling compared to their American competitors. At this point, the President of the European Council, António Costa, stressed: strengthening growth is “essential for our prosperity.”
The debate included the need to deepen the single market, simplify rules and reduce administrative burdens.
The leaders invited and heard from former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, whose competitiveness report has guided the bloc's recent efforts, as well as former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, an advocate for greater financial integration.
Save money sent to Ukraine?
The summit also revealed political fractures. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged Brussels to stop sending resources to Ukraine and redirect them to the European economy.
The Eastern European country is already in four years of war against the world's geographically largest country, Russia, and has needed billions of dollars of military, humanitarian and financial aid from its European allies, the United States and Canada.
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By the end of 2025, the EU had mobilized some €177 billion in aid to kyiv, in addition to an additional loan of €90 billion intended to cover financial needs between 2026 and 2027, according to data from the European Parliament.
With information from AFP and Reuters
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