Bratislava EU leaders are crafting a new vision for the future of their bloc at “honest and frank” talks in Bratislava about the causes of public disillusionment and Britain’s shock decision to withdraw.
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Leaders want the summit to launch a process that ends with agreements when they meet in March in the Italian capital to mark the 60th anniversary of the bloc’s founding Treaty of Rome.
The issue of security was also key following deadly terror attacks in France and Belgium, and with the bloc facing its biggest migration crisis since World War II as refugees flee war in Syria and the Middle East.
But they remain split about the answers.
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, told a press conference after the meeting that to deal with the migration issue they have decided “never to allow for the return of uncontrolled refugee flows of past year and to ensure full control of our external border to get back to Schengen. We have to assure. our citizens that we have learned the lesson from Brexit and we are able to bring back stability and a sense of security and effective protection”.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said earlier this week the EU was in an “existential crisis”.
His proposal for a European military headquarters underscores how defense cooperation has become something for the 27 leaders to rally around when they can’t agree on anything else.
There can be no granting Britain access to the European Union’s single market unless London also accepts the freedom of movement of workers that lies at its foundation, the EU’s top officials say following an EU summit in Bratislava.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, admitted that Europe is in a “critical situation” since the United Kingdom voted to leave.
The leaders meeting in Bratislava sought to use the Brexit vote as an impetus for safeguarding the EU’s future.
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.
“After Brexit and the risks that are connected to the Brexit it is absolutely necessary to me to be very honest”, Fico said as he arrived at the towering Bratislava castle for Friday’s talks.
Tusk is clear however that handing more power to Brussels “is not the desired recipe” as it fueled support for Brexit.
However, cracks in the union are evident everywhere.
There is a deep rift over the influx of migrants – including many refugees from Syria – as Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland refuse to accept European Union quotas for housing asylum seekers.
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Britain meanwhile is left out in the cold, with the Times newspaper saying said it was being treated as a “pariah state” and should have a say on issues which still affect it while it remains in the bloc.
