French President Francois Hollande (right) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a joint news conference ahead of the upcoming European Union summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, September 15, 2016.
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“Germany and France will very intensively play their part in the coming months in order to make all this a success”, Merkel at a press conference alongside Hollande.
France and Germany, the EU’s power couple have prepared plans for a “more active” defence policy to restore confidence shaken by terror attacks, the migrant crisis and globalisation.
The Head of the European Council Donald Tusk noted that the goal of the informal meeting in Bratislava and the process that will start there is to return hope and stability to union shaken by many crises.
Asked whether she would back the belief that Brexit has caused a European existential crisis, Grybauskaite remarked that the British decision was one of the many issues of Europe’s fragmentation.
The Netherlands wants the European Union to focus on limiting the damage the Brexit will have on both economy and safety as much as possible, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday morning shortly after arriving at a EU Summit – the first to be held after the British population chose to leave the European Union.
The leaders of France and Germany say the European Union has agreed on priorities for reinvigorating the bloc despite the “critical situation” created by the UK Brexit vote. Meeting in Bratislava without the United Kingdom, they will not discuss Brexit talks.
The summit host, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, is one of a group of leaders in ex-communist central and eastern Europe who has led a vocal revolt against Brussels and Berlin over their willingness to take in refugees.
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker submitted his own roadmap on Thursday, including controversial plans to approve an EU military headquarters and a combined military force by June 2017.
“We didn’t dodge anything”, Mr Hollande said.
“We are in a critical situation”.
The 27 leaders – minus British Prime Minister Theresa May – gathered at Bratislava’s towering castle overlooking the River Danube, determined to respond to the challenges of mass migration, security, globalization and a stuttering economy.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been one of the most abrasive voice coming into the summit, saying there should be no more “lawmaking tricks” from European Union institutions which he said circumvent the sovereign decisions and will of the nation-states on the migration issue.
But Mujtaba Rahman, of political risk consultancy Eurasia, said the summit may only end up advertising “the scarcity of common ground” among the EU-27 and the weakness of its most important leaders Merkel, Hollande and Italy’s Matteo Renzi.
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He said that without Germany imposing a firm ceiling on the number of immigrants it is willing to take in, a “suction effect” would continue to draw masses to Europe.
