The European Parliament set its markers ahead of the October 8-9 EU-China Trade and Investment Council in Beijing, defending dialogue, fair trade and human rights in one resolution, and MEPs debated the EU’s future with Portugal’s prime minister Luís Montenegro. Parliament also reiterated its call for an ambitious 2028-2034 EU budget and approved EU adjustment aid for workers in Belgium, Spain and Finland.
EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos issued a joint statement on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general elections, keeping the EU’s enlargement conditionality framing front and center alongside von der Leyen’s Western Balkans tour. The Commission said NextGenerationEU is showing a strong delivery record as implementation reaches the finish line — a legacy-setting message as the recovery instrument winds down.
The Commission’s €1.24 billion Ukraine defence disbursement is covered as a full story in this edition’s infra-deals beat (file 2026-10-07-eu-ukraine-defence-disbursement.md). No new developments today on the Brazil runoff (vote October 25), the AfD Saxony-Anhalt speaker, the Treasury Hamas-financing designations (covered October 5-6), or the Yemen shipping theater — the Houthis and Aden-airport shipping angle sits with the commodities beat.