European leaders arrive in Brussels on Thursday with a problem they can't negotiate away: voters no longer believe the system delivers. The two-day summit will weigh trading ties with China, whose surging exports of cars and other manufactured goods threaten local industry and mass layoffs across the continent. Migration is on the agenda too, alongside Ukraine, the Middle East, defence, the EU's long-term budget and enlargement of the 27-country bloc.
For some leaders, the summit could offer a welcome break from trouble at home. French President Emmanuel Macron faces student protests and sharp bond losses over a budget deadlock. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is struggling to get his coalition on track after regional vote defeats. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez trails in the polls ahead of a snap election he called for November 29, roughly six weeks away.
Who Decided?
Across Europe, mainstream politicians face pressure from far-right and nationalist parties. Base reporting links their rise to many voters' sense that the economy isn't generating enough wealth to pay for the public services they expect. That's the verdict voters delivered at the ballot box on how Brussels and national capitals have run things.
Macron lost his parliamentary majority in 2024, two years ago. European policy is now one of the few levers he has left, and he must step aside next year when his term ends. Sanchez could be out of office, with polls showing the centre- and far-right could win enough votes to form a government.
In Poland, the picture cuts closer to the border question. The nationalist president has stymied the government's agenda, while weariness towards refugees and fears of war in Ukraine spilling across the border have pushed voters towards far-right parties. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrive from relative strength, though rising inflation and energy costs are hampering Italy.
The Cost to Our People
The numbers help explain the mood. The EU's goods deficit with China hit €360 billion ($402 billion) last year and had already reached €200 billion in the first six months of 2026. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called that deficit "unsustainable" and promised the EU would use every possible means to reduce it.
Workers are already paying. Germany's Volkswagen will cut 100,000 jobs. Chinese exports, meanwhile, surged 36.3% in September from a year earlier, according to China's customs agency. Trade deficits exist in machinery, textiles, basic metals, chemicals and cars.
The EU executive has shifted its focus away from improving European companies' access to Chinese markets and towards letting China sell less into the bloc. Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic called last week's preliminary deal on hybrid car imports a "very good result" but cautioned it was only a first step. A senior Commission official said on Monday that dialogue alone wouldn't be enough to complete the job.
A Policy Reversal in Berlin
A Franco-German paper calls for urgent measures on chemicals and PET, the plastic widely used in packaging. It also urges limits on companies' reliance on single sources for critical supplies, and quick retaliation against countries that harm the bloc. The Commission is likely to propose the first such measure in December.
It's a U-turn for Germany, which only two years ago was a vocal critic of EU plans to impose tariffs on China-built electric vehicles. Berlin has now signed up to France's protectionist stance. "It is significant that a policy switch that had been boiling under the surface in Berlin for the last few weeks and months, is now official," said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
The summit agenda also includes US President Donald Trump's diesel deal with Russia. Leaders will tell the Commission to keep talking to Beijing. Whether they'll answer voters who've stopped listening is another matter.