Europe live: EU heads meet as Belgian and Czech leaders condemn Russian meddling in elections – as it happened

• Leaders from the EU’s 27 member states began a two-day meeting in Brussels to discuss economic competitiveness, Ukraine and the Middle East.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that “for us, it is important that this moment is now also used for further de-escalation and that Israel ... does not respond with a massive attack of its own.”

• The Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, brought up concerns that there is a “serious allegation” that Russia has played an “active role in trying to influence our democracy.”

• Roberta Metsola, the European parliament president, stressed the need for providing assistance to Kyiv more quickly.

• Gitanas Nausėda, the Lithuanian president, said he is “concerned that we are losing the focus on Ukraine.”

• The new Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, said he intends “to continue my engagement with European counterparts about the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the need for, of course, the release of hostages, but also the need, I believe, for a number of European states to now move ahead and recognise the state of Palestine.”

• Petteri Orpo, the Finnish prime minister, said that when it comes to the Middle East it is “important” to ask Israel “not to attack because we have to de-escalate this very difficult situation.”

• As the leaders went into the room on Wednesday evening, draft conclusions for the summit stated that “the European Council calls on Iran and its proxies to cease all attacks and urges all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and to refrain from any action that may increase tensions in the region.”

• The draft conclusions also stated that the council “reiterates its commitment to work with partners to end the crisis in Gaza without delay and implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, including through reaching an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages, as well as providing full, rapid, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian aid at scale for Palestinians in need.”

• Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, called on Germany and its partners to “designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

• Earlier in the day, the Nato secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “My message to Allies is clear: Send more to Ukraine,” he said.

• David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, urged G7 partners to step up support for Ukraine amid fears of a deteriorating situation in the country.

As leaders hold talks, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has called for a change in Brussels.

The leaders have officially started their meeting.

Meanwhile, David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, said he visited Israel to “show solidarity” following the Iranian attack.

“Any response must do as little to escalate this conflict as possible,” he said.

17 Apr 202413.47 EDT

Lisa O'Carroll

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has also said that he was very “saddened” by the continuing destruction of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.

Asked what he thought of the city mayor’s remarks that it was at risk of becoming “a second Aleppo”, he said the situation was “extremely saddening”.

“I was in Kharkiv myself on the 1 of March. A rocket from Russia takes one minute to get there and .. the alarm systems take more time to go off than the time it takes for that particular rocket to reach Kharkiv.

“It is extremely saddening and I was impressed when you see the teachers giving the classes in the subway stations and how they try to run that system as normal as possible,” he said.

17 Apr 202413.45 EDT

Lisa O'Carroll

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister and lead candidate to take over as secretary general of Nato later this year, said the need to get surface to air missiles to Ukraine is urgent with fresh efforts to persuade countries “sitting on large piles of patriots” to release them to help it stop Russia’s war.

Earlier, he said he and incumbent Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg called on allies to dig deeper into their stockpiles and release the air defence systems for Kyiv.

“We know that many countries are sitting on large piles of patriot systems, maybe not wanting to deliver it directly.

“We can buy it from them, we can deliver it to Ukraine, we have the money available. It’s crucial,” he said on arrival at the EU leaders summit.

In its budget two days ago, the Netherlands pledged €4bn in military aid over the next two years to Ukraine and has already promised a number of patriots though Rutte would not confirm how many.

Asked about Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s complaint that Israel’s allies were able to come to the rescue immediately and it is not a member of Nato but Ukraine still does not have sufficient air defence support he said “Ukraine needs all the air defence we can get for them and needs all the shell capacity.. we need to make it happen.”

Leaders are now greeting each other, and the meeting will soon get underway.

Petteri Orpo, the Finnish prime minister, said that when it comes to the Middle East it is “important” to ask Israel “not to attack because we have to de-escalate this very difficult situation.”

17 Apr 202413.24 EDT

Lisa O'Carroll

The new Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, said he will be using the council to try and persuade other countries to join Ireland and Spain in officially recognising Palestine as a sovereign state and calling for immediate ceasefire and release of hostages.

I intend to use the opportunity of being here to continue my engagement with European counterparts about the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the need for, of course, the release of hostages, but also the need, I believe, for a number of European states to now move ahead and recognise the state of Palestine because ultimately, if you believe in a two-state solution, I think such positive momentum could be helpful and could be important.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said it was important that Iran’s attack on Israel did not cause escalation and that he was under the impression that this had been understood by the affected parties, Reuters reported.

“For us, it is important that this moment is now also used for further de-escalation and that Israel ... does not respond with a massive attack of its own,” he said.

17 Apr 202413.18 EDT

Lisa O'Carroll

The Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, says now is not the right time to recognise Palestine as a state, although he is not opposed to the idea.

Asked if he would be joining Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta who have said they plan to do so, he replied: “Not now, because I do not see it today as a lever to achieve a sovereign state. It’s a good thing, but it needs to be a sovereign state that can make its own decisions that it is not fully dependent on another on another state. “

He added that there would next week be a vote on full Palestinian membership of the United Nations

“I think all these are important important, discussions [that] have a high symbolic value.

However he added there was a leadership gap in the Middle East.

“What’s really needed is political leaders who get around the table. And for the moment, unfortunately, I do not see the circumstances to have …moderate and responsible people sitting around the table.”

Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, said that when it comes to competitiveness, “we talk a lot about energy union, defence union, capital markets union, health union – our message is, let’s not forget that what we really need is the European Union and a Single Market that works for all, in every single member state.”

On the issue of Ukraine, she stressed the need for more air defence and ammunition. “We need to be faster in procuring equipment for them to defend themselves,” Metsola said.

Speaking of the Middle East, she said that “after the unprecedented attack by Iran on Israel, the challenge now is how to de-escalate. At the same time, we will continue to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the return of the hostages in order for us to allow for the much-needed humanitarian aid to go through.”

The parliament president also said she will appeal to the leaders to work on the campaign encouraging voters to participate in the upcoming European elections.

Gitanas Nausėda, the Lithuanian president, said when arriving at the meeting that “regrettably, since our last meeting of EUCO, the geopolitical situation has not improved – on the contrary, it has deteriorated.”

“I’m concerned that we are losing the focus on Ukraine,” he stressed.

“It’s really a pity to see that we are taking the decisions but we are not implementing them,” the president added.

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Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, has called on Germany and its partners to “designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

Earlier today, the leaders attended a reception hosted by the Belgian king.

Arriving at the meeting, Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, said it’s an “important” session.

As leaders meet in Brussels, the Greens have called for heads of government not to backtrack on the bloc’s green transition.

“The next five years will decide whether the EU comes out on top in the race for global competitiveness or whether the EU forfeits the global leadership role to China and the USA,” said Terry Reintke, the Greens group’s president.

The group, she said, “calls for a massive investment program to provide industries and companies with long term planning security.”

Reintke added: “The EU’s strategic agenda must reflect its commitment to energy sovereignty, energy security, climate protection and sustainable jobs. The EU cannot afford to backtrack on the Green Deal.”

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has arrived for the meeting.