Around 50 European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, will be reassessing their trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Donald Trump's second U.S. presidency will avoid the strife and political pitfalls of his first administration.
Further compounding an already complicated situation, Germany - Europe's troubled economic juggernaut - sank into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister. It raises the specter of an election in a few months and yet another standoff between the emboldened hard right and the establishment parties in Europe.
Those two combined "adds even more pepper and salt to this situation," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
But the U.S. election fallout still took center stage.
"Our relationship with the U.S. is essential and we are ready to deepen it," European Council President Charles Michel said.
