THE NEW YORK TIMES: How Trump and Iran are monopolising Europe’s agenda

European officials brought a hopeful message into 2026: After a tumultuous 2025, which they spent reacting to one drama after another emanating from Washington, they were ready to start setting their own agenda.

So much for that.

A summit in Brussels on Thursday put on full display just how profoundly Europe’s plans have again been derailed by President Donald Trump.

Originally billed as an opportunity to jump-start the European Union’s economic competitiveness, the meeting instead became another crisis planning session.

Thursday marked the first time leaders from across the EU’s 27 nations had gathered since the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran nearly three weeks ago, and escalating fuel prices and the other fallout of war in the Middle East dominated the discussions.

Hungary’s insistence on blocking a desperately needed loan to Ukraine was also a point of focus — though no progress was made toward breaking that stalemate.

Here’s what Europe’s leaders discussed and decided.

Fuel prices are a big worry

European energy costs have soared since the war in Iran broke out on February 28.

After Iranian missile strikes damaged a huge liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar, gas prices in Europe on Thursday hit roughly double their prewar level.

The attacks “create further chaos,” Kaja Kallas, the top EU diplomat, said Thursday.

European nations have been left scrambling to find some way to offset the impact on consumers.

“We are very worried about the energy crisis,” Bart De Wever, the Belgian prime minister, told journalists in Brussels on Thursday. “We were already worried before the start of the war.”

Leaders announced that they will work toward temporary fixes to alleviate the pain.

“The measures are temporary, tailored and targeted,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive arm, said at a news conference following Thursday’s meeting.

She said that the EU will work with member states that come up with national plans to mitigate the impact of fuel costs on electricity expenses, among other measures.

The tweaks could also extend to an upcoming review of the EU rules meant to curb carbon emissions.

Several nations have suggested that, to defray costs, the EU should relax those standards, even as others warn against dismantling a crown jewel of Europe’s green transition.

“We need to modernise it, and make it more flexible,” Ms von der Leyen said of the so-called Emissions Trading System.

Europeans fret that Iran will distract from Ukraine

European leaders also nervously eyed other potential fallout from war in the Middle East.

In their conclusions from the gathering, leaders said that Brussels should keep an eye on “energy security and energy prices, supply chains and migration” in the context of the conflict — and propose measures to deal with them as needed.

”We will not let there be a repeat of 2015,” Ms von der Leyen said, referencing the year when a wave of migrants poured into Europe, touching off years of political destabilisation.

European officials also expressed worries that the Mideast turmoil will distract attention from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at a time when Kyiv urgently needs the West’s support.

“My worry is that the events in the Middle East can overshadow the war in Ukraine,” Gitanas Nauseda, president of Lithuania, told reporters Thursday.

Hungary draws the ire of other European nations

One of Ukraine’s current problems is emanating from within the European Union itself.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary is blocking a 90 billion-euro loan, about $100 billion, that the European Union agreed in December to make to Kyiv.

The money was supposed to reach Ukraine in April, but will now almost certainly be delayed.

Unanimity is required to enact the package, and Mr Orban is refusing to allow the loan to move forward, tying his opposition to a damaged pipeline that pumps Russian fuel to Hungary and Slovakia. He argues that Ukraine has been too slow to fix it.

“The Hungarians are not able to get the oil which belongs to us,” Mr Orban told reporters Thursday, saying that he could not support the loan until his nation began to receive the oil.

But many EU officials suspect that the obstruction has more to do with an election in Hungary on April 12. They used Thursday’s meeting to pressure Mr Orban to allow the money to flow, but to little avail.

While some European officials have hinted that there could be alternative ways to fund Ukraine if Hungary remains a roadblock, they have not detailed what those could be — worried that doing so would only embolden Mr Orban.

“We will deliver, one way or the other,” Ms von der Leyen said.

Competitiveness is still on the agenda — technically

The economy did find its way into the discussion Thursday, with leaders agreeing to a series of deadlines on market reforms. Energy independence was also a hot topic — though that issue too revolved around geopolitics.

“The current crisis in the Middle East and its impact on global energy supplies confirms the path forward,” Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, said at a news conference. “We have to become more self-sufficient.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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