Costa launches EU capitals tour, including Latvia, with Ukraine support high on the agenda
European Council President António Costa begins a tour of EU member states' capitals on Tuesday to discuss support for Ukraine, EU enlargement and other pressing issues. He is set to visit Latvia on August 26.
European Council President António Costa on Tuesday, August 25, begins a series of visits to European Union capitals to discuss pressing issues concerning the bloc's future, including support for Ukraine. The news was reported by Ukrainska Pravda's European Pravda, citing an EU official.
According to a senior EU official familiar with the plans, the talks with national leaders will cover the full range of "Ukrainian issues," including the opening of accession negotiation clusters and supplying Ukraine's military with air defense interceptor missiles.
Main topics
The tour's agenda includes several core themes: security and defense, Ukraine, EU enlargement, competitiveness, migration, pressing international matters including the Middle East, and the EU's long-term budget (multiannual financial framework) for 2028-2034. Preparations for the next EU leaders' summit, scheduled for October 15-16 in Brussels, are also a key topic — that summit aims to hold a strategic discussion on the bloc's future enlargement.
The official stressed that discussions on Ukraine will cover the whole spectrum of issues typically raised at European Council meetings — prospects for accession talks, the opening of negotiation clusters, Ukraine's defense needs, enlargement, and missile defense.
Travel schedule
This week Costa plans to visit several countries: Slovakia and Estonia on August 25, Lithuania and Latvia on August 26, and the Czech Republic on August 27. In total, he plans to visit the capitals of 26 EU member states, skipping Sweden after its government requested no official meetings be held ahead of national elections scheduled for late September 2026.
Earlier, on August 24, Costa arrived in Kyiv along with leaders of countries friendly to Ukraine to mark Ukraine's Independence Day. There he reiterated that the EU is ready to accept Ukraine as a full member, calling it the best guarantee of security and long-term democratic stability for Europe.
