EU leaders meet in Bratislava for ‘sober and brutally honest assessment’

The 27 leaders of the European Union, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, are meeting in Bratislava for an informal summit to discuss the future of the Union that has been crippled by one crisis after another.

Ahead of the informal talks with the EU leaders, European Council President Donald Tusk urged leaders not to allow the Brexit crisis “go to waste”. Tusk will also be presenting leaders with the so-called Bratislava roadmap – although Politico is also reporting that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will be offering his own summit roadmap, giving the Council a set of legislative deadlines.

“I hope the roadmap we are presenting will move us in the right direction. It’s true that Europe has recently been shaken by all kinds of crises, but I personally believe that the best motto is that we must not allow this crisis go to waste,” Tusk told reporters.

Pressed to describe the roadmap, Tusk said it would first be presented to the leaders. He then added it had been drafted in consultation with the Commission and Juncker, with whom he is “one”.

With the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union – sending shockwaves across the whole bloc set to celebrate its 60th anniversary in a few months’ time – leaders must now agree on a positive, yet realistic way forward.

While the EU will now consider the future negotiations with the UK, it will also has to address the issues which led the British citizens favour an exit.

“For sure we haven’t come to Bratislava to comfort each other or deny the challenges that we face,” Tusk said.

“At this particularly historic moment of our community, the only thing that makes sense is to have a sober and brutally honest assessment of the situation. What we need today is an optimistic scenario for the future but it requires a realistic diagnosis of the causes of Brexit consequences and its political consequences for all of Europe.”

The European Council President said that discussions cannot taken place under some sort of “blissful conviction” and nothing is wrong. Tusk said that the Brastislava Summit must send the message to EU citizens that the leaders have learned their lessons from Brexit and that stability, a sense of security and effective protection are on the table.