European Council chief is touring capitals to clinch a deal by the year's end
António Costa will take soundings from 26 of the EU’s national leaders over the coming weeks, as he seeks to broker a politically sensitive deal on the EU’s next seven-year spending plan.
Costa will start his three-week tour in Slovakia on Tuesday, where he will meet Robert Fico, the prime minister, and will travel to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Czechia this week.
His final pitstop next month will be Dublin, where he will debrief Micheál Martin, the Irish prime minister, who’s coordinating meetings of EU ministers and an informal summit until the end of the year.
“We basically have a trilemma that leaders are aware of … between three axes: first the size of the budget, second the size of the national contributions and third new own resources,” said a senior EU official.
