Europe Leaders survey altered geopolitical reality - and Orbán celebrates with vodka

European leaders called for stronger action to defend the continent and support Ukraine in a show of unity yesterday after Donald Trump won re-election for a second term that is likely to prove a major challenge for the bloc.

- Jon Henley

Meeting in Budapest for two days of talks hosted by Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, an outspoken Trump ally, the EU's 27 heads of state and government were joined by 20 other leaders from the wider European Political Community including Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On the agenda were support for Ukraine, migration, trade and economic security. An informal summit of EU leaders alone will focus today on the bloc's declining competitiveness, laid bare in a report by the former Italian leader Mario Draghi.

Orbán said there had been "diverging opinions" during the day-long talks but also "common ground" on the need for Europe to respond to a "world-changing" US election result.

"There was agreement that Europe should take more responsibility for its peace and security. To be blunt, we cannot wait for the Americans to protect us," he said. He had celebrated Trump's victory with vodka rather than champagne, he added, because "I was in Kyrgyzstan, where they have different traditions".

Trump's victory brings further uncertainty to the continent at a time when it is struggling to agree on common responses to its problems, including much-needed new funding tools, such as joint borrowing, for defence and economic innovation.