BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) – In a centuries-old castle in the middle of their fractious continent, European Union leaders on Friday anxiously sought to forge a sense of common objective in the face of the planned departure of Britain and fundamental disagreements over everything from uncontrolled migration to the economy.
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He said the “Bratislava process” would continue for the next six months, with leaders of 27 member states scheduled to meet again in December in Malta’s capital Valletta, and next year in Rome, to hammer out the new vision.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters as she arrived for the summit: “We are in a critical situation”.
In a sign of how European Union leaders remained at odds on how to move forward as a bloc without Britain, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi broke ranks and did not participate in a joint press conference with France and Germany which focused on how united the European Union are.
However, at the final presser, journalists’ questions inspired Juncker, Tusk, and Fico to elaborate on the EU’s post-referendum relations with the UK.
Merkel said the bloc had to improve “in the domain of security, internal and external security, the fight against terrorism, the cooperation in the field of defence”, as well as defence and jobs.
EU President Donald Tusk said the talks – held in Bratislava Castle with a break for lunch on a cruise ship on the Danube – were “sober but not defeatist”.
According to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker access to single market could not be possible for United Kingdom without the country accepting free movement of workers.
Before the summit, president of the European Council Donald Tusk challenged those at the meeting to be “brutally honest” about the upcoming difficulties that they would face.
“But at the same time we need very effective institutions and believe me, me and Jean-Claude Juncker we are like one fist”. He said the summit had been unsuccessful in changing the European Union immigration policy. But Merkel also said she now accepted their argument for “flexible solidarity”, by which they could help in the migrant crisis in ways other than by taking refugees in.
Added urgency for European Union reform comes from planned elections in France and Germany next year where far-right and populist parties are seeking to exploit uncertainty generated by Britain’s decision to become the first country to walk out of the EU.
The Eastern Europeans also oppose compulsory relocation of migrants around the bloc to ease the burden on Greece and Italy, part of more fundamental opposition to power being centralised in Brussels.
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Merkel, Europe’s dominant leader for years but now under pressure at home for her refugee policies, said the European Union needed more solidarity and cooperation, the values it was founded on by Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries in 1957. “Despite all of this, the reality and outcomes of European cooperation are far better than this kind of atmosphere”, Kiska said.
