It’s not often that European leaders come to Brussels at the weekend, but on Sunday they will do just that, to discuss, among other things, divisions between Member States over economic issues in the EU. This summit was called about 3 weeks ago, when the Czech Presidency objected greatly to protectionist moves by member-States, most especially France, you can see my post on this here.
No summit of leaders today could ignore the other issue of deteriorating ecnomies and banks, and the summit is also likely to discuss how best to support fellow-Member States who are in difficulty. Given that many of the worst affected states are new Member States in the East and are not membrs of the Euro (allied by protectionisht moves by “Old Europe”), there’s been a challenge to the solidarity of the EU. We will see on Sunday if the notion of EU solidarity, where Member-States stick by each other, can survive the gloabl recession.