After year of shocks, EU faces crunch talks on Ukraine, China and its economic future

Late last year, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen began her second term in office, a giant purple banner was draped over the side of the EU executive arm’s headquarters, declaring: “United for our Future, 2024-2029.”

Its leaders will gather on Thursday to try to round off the year with a collective bang, but there is growing fear it will end with a series of disparate whimpers.

But on each of these, the member states appear more inclined to go it alone than to pull together, creating an air of existential dread ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the European Council, a body that allows national and institutional leaders to thrash out policy direction.

South China Morning Post