European Union leaders met on October 21 for a second day in Brussels to discuss economic ties with China, providing further aid to Ukraine, and punishing Iran for supplying drones to Russia for use against Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure targets.
On the first day of the summit, the 27 EU leaders debated a common approach to the acute energy crunch that has engulfed the bloc since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
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During the talks, Germany stuck to its refusal to cap gas prices, with a promise by the participants that they will keep on examining options to put a ceiling on costs as the only outcome of the talks.
The leaders will have a "strategic discussion" on their ties with China after the European Commission, the bloc's executive body, said earlier this week that the EU should view Beijing more as a competitor.
That comes ahead of the EU's first full summit with the ASEAN group of Southeast Asian countries planned for December 14.
On October 20, the EU imposed swift but limited sanctions on Iran for supplying drones for Russia's war in Ukraine.
Some EU countries want wider sanctions against Iran, and the summit will also condemn Tehran's use of force against protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained for "improperly" wearing a mandatory Islamic head scarf.
Poland and the three Baltic states have also proposed more sanctions against Russia, including a ban on importing diamonds, but that is unlikely to be agreed on October 21 as any such decision would require unanimity among the 27 that so far has been lacking.