BRUSSELS ― As usual, a summit of the European Union looks like a summit of European disunity.

What’s different is that this time it’s not just the usual suspects threatening to throw a spanner into Brussels’ well-oiled machine, which usually tries to prioritize consensus over everything else. From how to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine to questioning the EU’s climate targets, the agenda is packed with potential flashpoints.

Here’s a look at the leaders who are sharpening their elbows and readying their vetoes. 

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico 

The Slovak strongman has already signaled his intent to derail Thursday’s summit, announcing on X that he is “not interested in dealing with new sanctions packages” against Russia unless the EU comes up with a plan to help Slovakia’s struggling automotive sector. Leaders are expected to finally approve the 19th package, announced last month, at the summit.

Fico is among the most Kremlin-friendly leaders in the EU, visiting Moscow last December and again in May, and has raised objections to sanctions before, though he has ultimately always backed down from his repeated threats to block each new package. It’s likely he will do so again, perhaps after extracting some concessions for Bratislava’s car industry.  

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 

The EU’s agitator-in-chief is, as always, expected to cause a ruckus. Orbán has stood in the way of unanimity at previous summits, especially on the subject of funneling financial and military aid to Ukraine, forcing the other 26 EU member countries to put out a joint statement without his signature. He could do so again.

He has also repeatedly spoken out against a plan to seize Russian assets, arguing it could harm Budapest’s relations with Moscow. As a result, the EU is working on a way to legally sidestep his veto — which, if the bloc can pull it off, is sure to rile the typically pugnacious Hungarian leader. Orbán’s foreign minister,  Péter Szijjártó, denied Hungary would block the 19th package of sanctions.

Unusually, Orbán is expected to skip much of the summit due to a national holiday commemorating the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He will arrive later in the day (though his presence is still sure to loom over the proceedings) and be represented at the discussions in the meantime by Fico. 

Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever 

Who’d have thought that compromise-obsessed Belgium would become the one to throw its weight around at a European Council?

It’s certainly not a role the Belgians have been used to playing. But that’s before they elected a right-wing Flemish nationalist steeped in the politics of upsetting the status quo as prime minister.

The issue that’s concerning him is niche but affects Belgium in a unique way. The EU has warmed to the previously unthinkable idea of seizing €140 billion in Russian assets to fund a big new tranche of aid for Ukraine. (The plan that everyone had agreed on in the past was just to use the interest those assets were accruing.)

The problem for de Wever is that most of these assets are housed in Belgium, at the Brussels financial depository Euroclear. The Belgian government is worried that it could bear the brunt of Moscow’s legal and financial retaliation if the EU breaks open the piggy bank. 

After days of tension, Belgium has signaled it won’t stand in the way, but wants some legal assurances that the bloc will share the risks before signing onto any proposal.

Other leaders, including Orbán, but also Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, have voiced similar concerns about the legal complexity of the plan.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz 

Merz has one thing on his mind going into Thursday’s EUCO: the fate of Germany’s automotive sector. 

Ahead of the last leaders’ summit in Copenhagen, he vowed to put a “stick in the wheels” of the EU’s “legislative machine,” and now he is urging the European Commission to overturn its de facto combustion engine ban, co-signing a letter with Italy earlier this month calling for a radical overhaul of the legislation.  

Berlin is backed by Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland — all of whom have a strong automotive supplier industry — and Austria. France is also open to giving automakers concessions on the 2035 zero emissions target if they include a certain percentage of European components in their vehicles. With the Commission putting forward a revision of the legislation by the end of the year, it’s a question of how many concessions Merz can extract.

Scrapping the 2035 deadline outright remains politically difficult, but Merz is pushing for tweaks — notably “technological neutrality,” code for allowing alternative fuels into the mix and, in practice, keeping the combustion engine alive well beyond 2035.  

Jordyn Dahl contributed to this report.