The March meeting is an apparent example of a European Council agenda dictated by external events. The meeting was originally due to focus almost exclusively on competitiveness and follow up on the informal retreat of 12 February 2026 with concrete decisions. However, with Hungary and Slovakia refusing to sign off on the EU loan for Ukraine, as well as the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, the meeting's focus is likely to shift. The main aims will now be to overcome the two-country veto on the Ukraine loan, and to define a common approach to a rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East – notably to prevent escalation, promote a diplomatic path to end the crisis and provide support to partner countries in the region, while addressing the possible impact on global energy security. In that context, the European Council will discuss the Middle East as well as multilateralism with the UN Secretary General, António Guterres. However, despite a probable change of focus, competitiveness will feature prominently in the European Council conclusions and provide a high degree of detail, probably going beyond the EU leaders' role of setting the general priorities. Other topics on the agenda are the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), European security and defence, and migration, which, due to time constraints, are expected to trigger less discussion. Following the European Council meeting, EU leaders will convene for a Euro Summit focusing on the economic situation in the EU, the international role of the euro and the savings and investment union. Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP Read more