EU-US summit: Europe argues over the meeting room while the world burns
Rome or Brussels? The question currently haunting EU leaders isn’t about Ukraine, the Middle East, or the looming trade war with the United States. No, the real debate is over where to seat Donald Trump and European officials for a summit. Urgency, clearly, has taken on new forms.
After her meeting with Trump at the White House, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposed hosting a EU-US summit in Rome. The idea received a cautiously polite response from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “positive, but”, who seems concerned, not-so-subtly, that a Roman venue might cast her into the political shadows. A valid concern, no doubt, especially at a time when global diplomacy is grappling with tariffs, conflicts, and energy crises. Protocol matters, of course. But here, the optics risk becoming the story itself.
Trump summit: Brussels fears being overshadowed by the Colosseum
The issue isn’t substance, like transatlantic relations or impending trade disputes, but setting: whether to move the summit from Brussels, the bureaucratic heart of the EU, to the symbolic weight of Rome. Several European capitals have already expressed discomfort. “Why Rome?” they ask. For many Italians, that question sounds almost poetic.
Meanwhile, as Ursula defends the meeting venue as though the future of Europe depends on it, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has quietly shelved any immediate return to Washington. Technical talks on tariffs remain stuck, and Brussels continues to draft countermeasures should a deal fail. In short: the world is waiting for answers, but the EU is still debating floor plans.