They spent hours wading through the treacle of EU energy policy before agreeing a mushy compromise in the early hours of the morning. But EU leaders were as agog as everyone else at events in London – even if they couldn’t say so.
Leader after leader lined up to offer variations of no comment at all to the massed ranks of cameras and microphones and outstretched iPhones that greeted the EU heads of government as they entered the summit venue.
Some marched past imperiously; most stopped for a few words with clusters of journalists from their home countries. All were just about managing to stay circumspect on Thursday’s Truxit, even if they couldn’t suppress a hint of a grin.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” said Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, with a look that said he was only dying to do just that.
Ursula von der Leyen also suppressed a smile, declaring she would only talk about the European Council.
UK ‘stability’
Nor could the usually voluble Xavier Bettel, leader of Luxembourg for nearly a decade, be tempted to comment, though he did suggest a count of the number of British prime ministers he had outlasted.
French president Emmanuel Macron raised concerns about the “stability” of the UK, a theme taken up by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, as he sashayed into what was – perhaps – his final European summit. He is due to step down as taoiseach on the day the next scheduled summit starts.
“It’s a matter for Britain and for the British political system,” Martin said, “but stability is important during these times when a major war is under way on the continent of Europe.”
The Taoiseach said he had sympathy for Liz Truss “on a personal level”, which was decent of him because on a political level British prime ministers have been getting steadily worse as far as Brussels is concerned.
True, Truss gave a favourable impression to EU leaders at the recent Prague summit, which she visited for the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community, a way for non-EU countries to meet the bloc. But the truth is that the EU now views UK politics as so bonkers that they feel better off without them.
National idiocy
By Friday morning, when the leaders gathered after a long night of discussions, the emerging prospect of Boris Johnson returning as prime minister was tending to reinforce that view. The arriving leaders declined to be drawn on the possibility of his return, repeating instead their concerns about political stability in the UK – rather as they might about a third world country prone to coups or revolutions or hyper-inflation or just outbreaks of national idiocy.
It would be good, chirruped the impish Bettel, to see a return to stability in the UK “for more than a month and a half”. But he didn’t sound that confident.
Anyway, the business of the summit wasn’t actually not commenting on British politics. The leaders wrestled with the proposal for a cap on gas prices – something which has sharply divided them and exposed differing national interests, capacities and priorities. But there was a breakthrough, of sorts.
They didn’t agree on a plan, but they agreed on what they wanted a plan to achieve. Commission officials and national energy ministers will now try to work out a plan to cap gas prices that can be agreed by the leaders and implemented, probably next year. Naturally, it will take another summit to reach final agreement.
This is the slow and tedious – and also vitally important – business of making the EU work. Pretty it ain’t. Exciting it ain’t. It sure lacks the excitement available in London right now. But it also serves the needs and interests of its citizens a great deal better. Jaw-jaw is better than jaw-drop.
