The EU leaders intended to discuss the membership of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia as well as issues relating to accession. Wagner Group think tanks have now rearranged the agenda.

The short-lived coup in Russia by the Wagner Group and its consequences for Moscow’s military in the war in Ukraine has suddenly become the top topic for discussion at the two-day EU Summit, where representatives of all 27 member countries will be meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Although Charles Michel, the summit chair, mentioned the situation when he invited people to attend the summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is now speaking at the summit’s opening lunch. He will be sure to spark the conversation.

Stoltenberg warned the EU and West to not underestimate Russia after the weekend’s events. The NATO Secretary-General will address the implications for Europe’s safety when Yevgeny Prgozhin, and some of his private army, take up positions in Belarus.

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Gitanas Nuseda, the Lithuanian president, believes that his country is under threat due to recent events and has called for an increased strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank. Nauseda traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He will be hosting the next NATO summit two weeks from now.

Will Ukraine join EU?

The EU summit will also discuss Ukraine’s prospects for joining the European Union, as Zelenskyy continues his push to start formal membership procedures before the end the year.

Uncertainty remains about whether Brussels will take this step. The European Council must “send a strong signal to Ukraine that we are with them… and that we will support Ukraine in its journey towards freedom and peace.” Anna Luhrmann is the German minister of state in charge of the Federal Foreign Office. She said that Ukraine should also be supported on its way to EU membership.

Luhrmann, along with her 26 colleagues, are responsible for the preparation of the summit. The confab aims to increase financial and military aid for Ukraine, among other things. Charles Michel, President of the European Council, said that this meeting would once again highlight the EU’s determination to support Ukraine “for as long as necessary”.

The European Commission has recently asked that the budget allocations for EU defense projects and long-term Ukraine assistance be increased by EUR66 billion ($72.2billion) by 2027. However, so far, member states have rejected this idea. Karoline EDTSTADLER, Austria’s Federal Minister for EU, has said that the European Commission must first “use their imagination” and rearrange the budget of EUR1.1 trillion before demanding more money.

Expedited membership process for Western Balkan states?

The heads of state and governments will not only have to deal with the membership applications they approved last year for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, but also with the long-running accession process of six Western Balkan countries. Before the summit, EU diplomats said that efforts were being made to accelerate the process.

It is still unclear how these efforts will actually play out. Andreja Metelko Zgombic, Croatia’s Secretary of State, said: “We do not like to ignore the Western Balkans. They should be able take concrete steps.” They should also enable them to move forward on their European pathway.

The tensions between Serbia, which views Kosovo as a province that has broken away from Serbia, continue to be a major obstacle to reaching this goal. The summit will discuss a resolution to the conflict that regularly explodes in violence. The previous attempts of EU Foreign Minister Josep Borell to mediate have been unsuccessful.

What is the EU China strategy?

The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has pushed a number other issues on the foreign policy agenda to the backburner. One of these issues is the long-overdue need to discuss a common EU stance towards China. Francesca Ghiretti, of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, told DW that such a strategy is yet to be implemented.

“There is a framework that describes China as a competitor, rival, and partner. This framework will remain. “There will be no revision,” she stated. Is there a single strategy? No. No. “There are different priorities and different interests.”

Ghiretti said that the leadership in Beijing is aware of this and negotiates with each EU member state accordingly. She added that it was important to understand the risks associated with economic relationships and manage them without severing all ties. The European Commission and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz call this approach “de-risking”, rather than “decoupling”.

From the Leyen: A decoupling from China is not feasible or desirable

Does the EU continue to fight over immigration?

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, is expected to once again make waves on the immigration front. Both he and his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki have said they will protest the recent EU immigration policy reforms.

Orban said to Germany’s Bild newspaper that he did not intend to pay EUR20,000 per migrant Hungary refuseds. “We spent over EUR2 billion to protect the Schengen Area from illegal immigrants. Brussels has not paid us a penny. “Why should we pay more?” asked the man.

Orban also believes that the new immigration process, agreed on by EU interior ministers three weeks ago, is too soft. Orban said that the new migration process agreed upon by EU interior ministers three weeks ago is too soft.