ALDEN BIESEN, Belgium — It was supposed to be a simple sit-down with like-minded countries. But an impromptu pre-meeting ahead of Thursday’s EU summit led to leaders being delayed, arrive late and then trade accusations over missing invitations.

The breakfast gathering at a hotel down the road from Alden Biesen castle, where the more formal talks between EU presidents and prime ministers on the bloc’s economy were to take place, was organized by Italy in conjunction with Germany and Belgium. It had its beginnings in a coalition that has met before to push tougher migration policy.

This time though, the group counted 19 out of the EU’s 27 leaders — sparking fears among those who weren’t there that the main meeting would be a stitch-up done behind closed doors, according to three diplomats from countries that weren’t invited.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez lodged a protest with Rome over the decision, according to newspaper El Mundo.

Joking he was meeting journalists outside the castle “in splendid isolation” while others breakfasted, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “we weren’t invited” and “I don’t get the necessity” of a private club convening separately.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, however, denied there was a rival clique forming. “I think everyone was invited,” he told journalists. “We don’t want the perception that there is a large group of countries that wants to impose its will on other countries, like Spain. That is not the intention.”

Original schedule

Adding to the rancor, the pre-meeting delayed the arrival of the leaders who did attend, with Council President António Costa kicking off the first session on economic growth before the three largest economies were even represented. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron were all running late after breaking bread.

Costa “started the discussion shortly before 11 a.m. because there are many things to discuss and he, as well as his guests, would like to stick to the original schedule as much as possible,” an EU official told POLITICO.

But it turned out those complaining they weren’t invited missed out on little.

“Nothing” said one diplomat from a country that was in attendance, when asked what the discussion focused on. With 19 leaders, few got a chance to speak — while “Meloni turned up late, just before it ended, and she was the one who invited them all.”