Giorgia Meloni isn\u2019t happy<\/a> about plans to renovate the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels (that\u2019s the building just off the Schuman roundabout that looks like a 1970s leisure center and is next to the giant glass egg building). \u201cWe cannot propose renovating the European Council\u2019s headquarters at a cost of \u20ac800 million. This is something Italy cannot afford, and it would send the wrong message to citizens,\u201d Meloni said while in Cyprus.<\/p>\n9. Mutual defense needs work<\/p>\n
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU\u2019s mutual defense clause, Article 42.7, needs some gaming out if it\u2019s going to work properly in practice. \u201cThe treaty is very clear about the what,\u201d von der Leyen said, explaining member countries are obligated to come to each other\u2019s aid. \u201cThe treaty is not clear about what happens when and who does what.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. Kids say the smartest things<\/p>\n
As he spoke with students under the shade of a tree at Nicosia Franco-Cypriot school, one of the kids (perhaps an undercover reporter) asked French President Emmanuel Macron a question that broke news. Answering why he decided he wanted to become French president, Macron went through his bio and concluded by saying: \u201cIt is a matter of passion, it was not a career plan. I haven\u2019t done politics before, and I will not do it after.\u201d<\/p>\n
That comment left everyone wondering whether Macron will leave politics after the end of his term in 2027.\u00a0Under the French constitution, Macron can\u2019t run for president next year \u2014 but he could run again in 2032 or look for another job in politics. The French leader declined to clarify his comment to reporters.<\/p>\n
11. It\u2019s better than Brussels \u2026<\/p>\n
Under the beating Mediterranean sun on Thursday, Europe\u2019s heads of state walked down a palm tree-lined red carpet, past very fancy yachts \u2014 and Cypriot military speedboats armed with machine guns \u2014 to\u00a0take their seats inside the conical glass event center at Ayia Napa Marina.<\/p>\n
12. \u2026 but EU shadows always loom<\/p>\n
The first day of the leaders\u2019 summit took place at Ayia Napa Marina in southeastern Cyprus. Investment in the marina allowed some non-EU investors to access Cyprus\u2019 infamous citizenship-by-investment program, often referred to as the \u201cgolden passport\u201d scheme. The program was abolished in 2025, and as a result, many of the apartments in the tower \u2014\u00a0as well as many of the luxury villas \u2014\u00a0remain empty. The European Commission officially closed its infringement case against Cyprus over the plan in March 2026.<\/p>\n
13. Say what?<\/p>\n
Addressing reporters after Syria and Lebanon\u2019s leaders left the room, European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa stumbled over the pronunciation of Ayia Napa. \u201cYesterday in \u2026 Ayaya?\u201d he said. \u201cAyia Napa,\u201d Cyprus\u2019 president corrected, sending laughter rippling through the room.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Gavin and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting from Cyprus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"8. Italy doesn\u2019t want to pay for Brussels building work Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni isn\u2019t happy about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2962,2963,946,2964,2872,64,2965,697,2966,2967,952,1088,366,612,950,944,371,710,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-3574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-tusk","8":"tag-agriculture-and-food","9":"tag-andrej-plenkovic","10":"tag-antonio-costa","11":"tag-buildings","12":"tag-cyprus","13":"tag-donald-tusk","14":"tag-enlargement","15":"tag-eu-summit","16":"tag-farmer-protest","17":"tag-french-politics","18":"tag-giorgia-meloni","19":"tag-hungarian-elections-2026","20":"tag-peter-magyar","21":"tag-robert-fico","22":"tag-roberta-metsola","23":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","24":"tag-viktor-orban","25":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","26":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}