Prospects for Bratislava

View from Berlin: Keep calm and carry on

Bratislava should be modest in rhetoric and look to develop coalitions for security and growth initiatives

View from Rome: Europe is alive but needs to kick

Bratislava is the perfect opportunity for Europe’s leaders to live up to their responsibilities in delivering concrete responses to Europe's challenges

View from Warsaw: the Polish riddle

It is less about concrete policy ideas than an overall strategy towards the EU: will it take a pragmatic position or pursue an ideological path?

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View from Berlin: Keep calm and carry on

Bratislava should be modest in rhetoric and look to develop coalitions for security and growth initiatives

View from Rome: Europe is alive but needs to kick

Bratislava is the perfect opportunity for Europe’s leaders to live up to their responsibilities in delivering concrete responses to Europe's challenges

View from Warsaw: the Polish riddle

It is less about concrete policy ideas than an overall strategy towards the EU: will it take a pragmatic position or pursue an ideological path?

Ahead of the first European Council summit without Britain, attitudes across Europe are mixed. Most are keen not to punish the UK or damage their own national interests in the upcoming negotiations, while staying firm on the necessity to respect the EU’s four freedoms.  But Brexit will not dominate proceedings. The show must go on, and many are keen to demonstrate progress on security and growth initiatives, in particular, while avoiding over promising through grandiose declarations.

Expect modest rhetoric and an emphasis on Bratislava as the beginning of a process of reflection, rather than a defining moment. In all of this, Warsaw is the outlier, and it remains to be seen how hard it will push its counter-revolution agenda for a return of competences to the national level.