Bratislava/Brussles, Sept 15 (CTK) – The presidents and prime ministers of the EU 27 want to frankly overview the current state of the European Union at their meeting in Bratislava on Friday and help resume people’s trust in the community which has experienced a number of crises in the past years.
The informal summit will be held without Britain whose citizens decided to leave the EU in June, which is seen as a clear expression of doubts about the functioning of the Union.
The summit is also to outline the direction of the “renaissance of the EU,” which is to culminate in Rome on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the European integration project next spring.
The Bratislava summit will be hosted by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country currently presides over the EU, but the European Council President Donald Tusk will steer the deliberations.
Tusk has sent unusually long and frank letter to the summit participants. He wrote that people in Europe want to know whether the political elites are capable of controlling the developments which they do not understand and which sometimes scare them.
Many people not only in Britain now believe that participation in the EU is against stability and security, Tusk wrote.
According to a knowledgeable EU source, Tusk wants the Bratislava summit to contribute to returning hope to the troubled EU.
Tusk, former Polish prime minister, reportedly prefers a frank conversation on the mistakes and shortcomings of the current form of the EU to sending out optimistic reports on a radiant future.
The consultations which preceded the summit were intensive.
The summit was convoked at the regular EU summit in June, shortly after Britons decided to leave the EU and the leaders of the other 27 countries felt the need to find a venue and time to debate the future of the bloc.
Brexit alone and the expected negotiations with London on the end of its presence in the EU which are expected to last a few years and the new form of bilateral relations will not be on the agenda of the Bratislava summit.
The reason is that the member countries and Brussels institutions said immediately after the referendum that the negotiations will not start before Britain formally announces its intention to leave the Union.
The summit deliberations, which will be accompanied by extraordinary security measures and extensive traffic restrictions, will start at Bratislava Castle on Friday morning.
Diplomats expect this part of the meeting to see a very frank discussion on the situation in the EU and its roots.
The conflicts are sharp and they include different views of a solution to the migrant crisis and mainly the refugee quotas, which divide the EU into the East and West.
Other problems are disputes over budgetary responsibilities, where the dividing line runs from the north to the south, social problems related to the single European market and the questions of measure of cooperation in security and defence.
The search for the EU’s diagnosis must be matter-of-fact and maximally frank, an informed official said hinting at Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn’s recent proposal to expel Hungary from the EU over its stand on migrants.
The statement drew sharp reactions from Budapest and other Central European capitals.
The EU 27 leaders will have a working lunch on a boat on the Danube River, during which they would discuss cooperation and communication of the EU member countries.
Tusk may inform his colleagues about his recent vist to London and talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May.
He and French President Francois Hollande want to ask member countries to pay a greater attention to the ratification of the climate agreement approved in Paris last year.
The afternoon talks to be again held at Bratislava Castle will focus on more specific themes of the future.
The resumption of checks along the outer border of the EU, better cooperation in the outer and internal defence and the struggle against terrorism and the effort to boost the limping European economy are to help persuade the sceptical European public that politicians are serious about the EU.
However, diplomats and EU representatives point out that a number of current topics, such as relations with Russia, are to be dealt with at the regular summits in October and December and they will not be taken up in Bratislava.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka wrote before the summit that Prague’s priority is a “safe, prospering and cooperating EU.”
This requires not only the unity of the member countries, but also people’s higher trust in the EU and its institutions.
The process that will start in Bratislava is to continue in Malta in January and culminate in Rome in the spring when Europe will mark 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties.
