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EU president urges ‘brutally honest assessment’ ahead of post-Brexit summit in Bratislava

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Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, delivers his state of the union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Photo: Bloomberg

EU leaders meet without Britain in Bratislava on Friday to chart their post-Brexit future, focusing on defence cooperation and border security in a bid to heal deep divisions in particular over migration.

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The 27 leaders hold a special summit in Bratislava castle overlooking the Danube in the Slovak capital, to launch a road map meant to be agreed in Rome in March next year on the 60th anniversary of the EU’s founding treaty.

[Leaders must] have a sober and brutally honest assessment of the situation
EU President Donald Tusk

With Europe still reeling from the worst migrant crisis since the second world war, deadly terror attacks and fallout from the 2008 financial meltdown, the leaders are hoping to show they can learn lessons from Britain’s seismic vote to leave. But they remain split about the answers.

EU President Donald Tusk said on the summit eve that the leaders must “have a sober and brutally honest assessment of the situation”.

He said he will present a road map he hopes will be a first step to show EU citizens that “we have learned the lessons from Brexit” and can restore stability.

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