European Union leaders have ended their last summit in 2022 with an agreement to allocate 18 billion euros to Ukraine as funding next year and to impose additional sanctions against Russia, Reuters reports.

Poland withdrew last-minute objections to the global corporate minimum tax, unlocking a package of related agreements, including a loan to Ukraine.

EU leaders also agreed on a ninth package of sanctions against Moscow, blacklisting nearly 200 more people and banning investment in Russia's mining industry.

The decision, which requires unanimity, came after Poland and Lithuania warned that proposed exemptions for food security could actually benefit Russian entrepreneurs in the fertilizer business.

After a long year of disagreement, the EU also appears to have united on how to cap gas prices, with leaders instructing their ministers to finalize the work on Monday. Even Scholz, who led the opposition to such market interference, expects a final agreement.

With heating in EU buildings being cut as part of energy conservation measures, some leaders were visibly freezing, wrapping themselves in large plaids during the meeting, during which they also discussed reactions to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croo said the EU risks deindustrialization because energy prices have risen sharply amid the war in Ukraine, and now European companies also face the threat of U.S. competition fueled by subsidies.

Poorer EU countries want a coordinated response and warn richer member states, such as Germany, not to support their industries without showing solidarity with the rest of the bloc.

The summit instructed the EU Commission to make specific proposals early next year to support advanced EU industries, including biotechnology and artificial intelligence, and to preserve competition in the bloc's single market of 450 million consumers. The summit also granted Bosnia and Herzegovina official EU candidate status, and the leaders agreed to meet again in February to discuss increasing immigration to the EU.