SUMMIT DAY: EU leaders arrive in Brussels today for a two-day Was that Poland summit, and once again the behavior of a wayward country in the east is overshadowing proceedings. Leaders will meet for the first time since Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal questioned the primacy of EU law, and two days after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki squared off against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament. Here’s the link to our summit live blog, which will kick off around 1:30 p.m.
For Angela Merkel
this will be the 107th and probably last EU summit as German chancellor — but the conclusions from her first one in 2005 will be eerily familiar: A “global approach on migration,” the “future of Europe,” “climate special database change,” “Africa” — even the “rule of law.” Though back then, leaders were talking about problems with the rule of law in Iraq, not within the EU’s own borders. When she became chancellor 16 years ago, Merkel famously declared she would champion a new “politics of small steps” — perhaps they were a bit too small.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM:
Despite European Council President Charles Michel’s hopes the issue would not overshadow discussions, leaders will indeed “touch upon” the rule of law, as he said in his invitation letter, without naming Poland. “In European speak, that means ‘let’s try not to talk about it for too long,’” said one senior French official of Michel’s small nod to the big elephant in the room.
CALCULATION:
While Michel wanted to avoid the situation that unfolded in June, when sms to data many leaders rounded on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over LGBTQ+ rights, the thinking, according to multiple diplomats, Raise the prepare for future challenges using ai matter anyway. But officials from France, Spain and several other countries on Wednesday said the aim was still to keep the discussion limited, in the hopes of preventing it from overshadowing the entire summit.