The summer weather did little to disguise the gloom that hung over a small summit meeting on Monday held by the leaders of the three most important European nations off the coast of Naples, Italy.
The three leaders — German Chancellor Angela Merkel; French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi — used the moment to present a united front, emphasising that the benefits of the union far outweighed the challenges it faced and making clear that Europe would persevere, even after the British vote.
The way forward, however, was far from clear. Though Mr. Renzi played the host, the role of guiding the bloc rests largely on the shoulders of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the leader of Europe’s strongest economy.
Ms. Merkel, like Mr. Renzi and President François Hollande of France, faces immediate challenges that make decisive action even more difficult than it has been for the last several years in the face of Europe’s economic, migration and border crises.
The three leaders themselves remain divided on critical issues, not least whether to allow flexibility on stiff budget requirements for the 19 eurozone countries that Ms. Merkel insists are necessary and that Mr. Renzi, especially, blames for stunting economic growth. Allowing some leeway might bolster Mr. Hollande and Mr. Renzi politically, but it would be further proof of the union’s inability to stick to its own rules.
Meeting in SeptemberMonday’s talks are supposed to culminate in mid-September in a meeting of the 27 nations that will remain in the bloc. The three top leaders have promised new efforts on internal and external security; fresh stimulus for growth and jobs; and special programmes for Europe’s youths, who are bearing the brunt of unemployment almost everywhere but Germany. There is no clear indication of how or why these efforts would succeed where others have failed. Yet the pressure is immense; if Europe cannot rally, anti-European Union feelings could lead to even more referendums.
Ms. Merkel will spend the rest of the week crisscrossing Central and Eastern Europe and then hosting Western European conservative leaders at a castle outside Berlin to try to forge new unity. Mr. Hollande and Mr. Renzi are likely to reach out to politicians in Portugal, Spain and Greece to unite the Continent’s southern flank.
One important task is working out a mandate for Michel Barnier, a veteran politician from France, to negotiate with the British on behalf of the EU. — New York Times News Service
