Informal meeting of EU leaders ended in failure — Politico

The informal meeting of the leaders of the European Union countries in Belgium ended in a hollow failure. This is reported by Politico with reference to three EU diplomats.

It is noted that representatives of eight countries of the bloc were not invited to the meeting, two of the three initiators were late, and those present did not discuss anything.

"The breakfast meeting turned out to be a bit of a failure. Of the 19 leaders, only a few were able to speak. According to another EU diplomat, George Meloni, who invited other leaders, arrived "at the very end." When asked about what was discussed, the diplomat stated dispassionately: "nothing," writes Politico.

According to Politico, in addition to the Italian Prime Minister, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron were also among the latecomers. It is noted that the chairman of the European Council, Antonio Costa, began the meeting without waiting for them. According to sources, representatives of the uninvited countries were afraid that they could make "raw" decisions during the meeting.

The meeting was initiated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as Prime Ministers of Italy and Belgium Giorgio Meloni and Bart de In order to coordinate positions on the economic agenda before the informal summit EU in the Belgian castle of Alden-Bizen. Later it became known that Spain was offended by Germany, Italy and Belgium for organizing an informal meeting of EU leaders, to which it and seven other member states were not invited.