The 27 leaders, minus British Prime Minister Theresa May, hope their daylong talks in the Slovak capital will provide the broad outlines of a new “Bratislava roadmap” that should lead to a new-look European Union by next spring following the shock British referendum result in June.
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Mr Hollande said the EU’s internal borders “must be strengthened” and said the bloc must “fully play its role” in conflicts in the Middle East.
Her influence as leader of the EU’s biggest economy has been undermined by her unpopular decision to open Germany’s doors previous year to almost a million refugees.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters as she arrived for the summit: “We are in a critical situation”.
Merkel said France and Germany would ask the Council to pursue their proposals but added: “We want to work inclusively so all of the 27 member states should of course have the opportunity to take part and to decide on things together”.
According to European Council President Donald Tusk the country could trigger talks by February next year.
It is the clearest indication yet when the two-year withdrawal process is likely to start Earlier May’s office said that Britain would not start the talks this year, citing the need for more preparations.
Britain has said it will not start the formal two-year talks to leave the European Union this year because it needs time to consider its position, but could do so next year.
Boosting defence cooperation is a key issue for the leaders who hope it will give them something to rally around after deadly terror attacks in France and Belgium.
However despite last night’s EU rows, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, maintained that Europe was united over the question of Britain wanting to put curbs on EU workers and would not the UK grant access to the single market.
The prospect of an European Union army became a big issue during the referendum campaign, with Remain saying that such claims were scaremongering and that European Union leaders had no plans to create a common defence force.
At an end of the summit on Friday, Mr Fico said that he and other Central European leaders whose citizens make up much of the EU migrant population in Britain would not let those people become “second class citizens”. “But today, that is the EU’s official policy”.
Tensions had bubbled up earlier this week when Luxembourg’s foreign minister called for Hungary to be suspended from the European Union for treating refugees other countries like “animals”.
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Additionally confusion remains over Britain’s future relationship with the bloc and whether it intends to remain a member of the single market.
