EU leaders ready countermeasures to pressure from Russia, China and
Trump
[February 13, 2026] By
SAM McNEIL
BILZEN-HOESELT, Belgium (AP) — European Union leaders broadly agreed
Thursday on a plan to restructure the 27-nation bloc’s economy to make
it more competitive as they face antagonism from U.S. President Donald
Trump, strong-arm tactics from China and hybrid threats blamed on
Russia.
Meeting in a Belgian castle, the EU leaders agreed an “action plan” with
a strict timeline for the economic restructuring, European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The pressure and the sense of
urgency is enormous, and that can move mountains,” she said.
The plan, to be presented formally in March, would include measures to
coordinate upgrading energy grids, deepen financial integration and
loosen merger regulations to allow European firms to grow to better
compete globally, she said.
“We need European champions,” von der Leyen said.
European Council President António Costa described the meeting as a
“real game changer” as leaders threw their weight behind plans to
further integrate and simplify the bloc's financial systems.
The meeting had started with an image of unity between the two
traditional power centers of the EU after each had publicly staked out
different strategic positions. French President Emmanuel Macron and
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived together, crossing a drawbridge
side by side into the 16th-century Alden Biesen castle.
“We share this sense of urgency that Europe must take action,” Macron
said while standing on a blue welcome carpet next to his German
counterpart.
“We want to make this European Union faster, we want to make it better,
and above all we want to ensure that we have competitive industry in
Europe," Merz said.
There are clear fault lines in the battle for Europe’s future
Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni lead a wing of the bloc
calling for deregulation, rebooting Europe's relationship with
Washington and forging trade deals like the recent one struck with the
Mercosur nations of South America.
The EU "cannot continue to hyperregulate," said Meloni. “There's no time
to lose.”
France instead is leading a push for “strategic autonomy ” — meaning a
bloc less dependent on Washington.
Macron argues that EU countries should buy exclusively from European
producers as the continent pursues greater military spending as a
response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Merz and Meloni say purchases
should be from both foreign and European firms.
In comments to reporters as he arrived, Macron said he was urging his
partners to protect “sectors that are particularly under threat” like
cleantech, chemicals, steel, the car industry and defense.
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French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Germany's Chancellor
Friedrich Merz arrive for the EU summit at Alden Biesen Castle in
Bilzen-Hoeselt, Belgium, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Francois
Walschaerts)
 “There is also an increased pressure
on us, with competition — sometimes unfair competition — that is
very intense, with very strong pressure from China, tariffs imposed
on us by the Americans with threats of coercive practices," Macron
said.
Facing the financial challenges of the US and China
EU leaders will also debate new financial instruments to protect the
bloc in a global trading system rocked by Trump's blitzkrieg of
tariffs and China's restricting of critical mineral exports.
Macron is renewing his call for the EU to be able to borrow money,
which he described as “Eurobonds for the future" that would provide
an opportunity “to challenge the hegemony of the dollar.”
Most leaders are calling for action along the lines of the economic
stimulus strategy called for by Mario Draghi, former head of the
European Central Bank. The 2024 plan includes cutting regulations,
making infrastructure investments and establishing trade ties with
more countries.
Both Draghi and Enrico Letta, a former Italian Prime Minister,
beseeched leaders assembled in the castle to drastically restructure
and integrate the bloc's economy.
“We have way too many barriers that prevent money and capital from
moving from one country to another, way too many obstacles to
simplification,” said Roberta Metsola, president of the European
Parliament.
“No more words, but more action," said Metsola, who like Merz and
von der Leyen is a leading figure in the European People’s Party,
which is the largest bloc in the European Parliament and claims 13
heads of EU states as members.
Citizens across the bloc are hungry for a stronger EU and a more
unified, stronger and ambitious leadership amid military threats,
economic pressures and climate instability, according to an official
EU poll, Eurobarometer.
“There has never been a better time for European leaders, national
political leaders, to actually leverage on these European citizens’
demand for greater European action,” said Alberto Alemanno, a
professor of EU law at the HEC Paris business school.
___
Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Geir Moulson in
Berlin, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Sylvie Corbet in Paris
contributed to this report.
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