Despite the fact that the Bratislava summit, which ended today (16 September), is reported to have focused on security issues, at the final presser, Council President Donald Tusk, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and Slovak Premier Robert Fico, who hosted the meeting, issued stern messages to the UK.
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Meanwhile, on the eve of an European Union summit in Bratislava on Friday, which is being attended by 27 European Union leaders – apart from U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May – Donald Tusk told reporters that leaders could not start discussions with “this kind of blissful conviction that nothing is wrong and everything is ok”.
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. Objecting to a joint statement on border controls to be issued at the culmination of the meeting, Mrs Merkel insisted that a line asserting that Europe is “never to allow a return to the chaos past year”, be deleted, and replaced with a phrase referring merely to “uncontrolled flows”, a source told the Mail. As Juncker said, the country would soon receive the €160 million it has been requesting to secure its borders.
France and Germany produced a joint defence plan ahead of the summit and the unusual summit joint press conference clearly signalled they will take the lead in rebuilding confidence after Britain’s shock June 23 referendum decision to quit.
Meanwhile, UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon vowed to block any proposals for an EU army while Britain remains a member of the union.
Nothing in the Bratislava Declaration concerns the UK.
France and Germany, two of the alliance’s oldest and most influential members, also pushed Friday for closer European Union defense and security collaboration, another subject that has divided the bloc.
But former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Menzies Campbell said there was nothing the United Kingdom can do after Brexit to protect North Atlantic Treaty Organisation from the potentially damaging effect of an EU army because it will not be able to veto its creation from outside the union. “I’m really talking about a separation, and that means a return to borders, the end of free movement, the end of solidarity, the abandonment of the euro”.
Tusk said Friday that “she declared that it is nearly impossible to trigger Article 50 this year”, referring to the rule that covers exit negotiations.
An EU official said the initial discussions had been “honest, without recriminations” while Tusk had submitted his “roadmap” in the afternoon session. We will not allow this negotiation to damage our interest. I can add further objectives.
The document, the Times reports, warns that failure to comply would result in “infraction proceedings brought by the European Commission” and “infringement actions by member states”.
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Fico stood by the EU’s values reiterating he was opposed to “cherry-picking” negotiations.
