Europe’s summiteers have little to celebrate, besides not being British

BREXIT MAY be tearing Britain’s political establishment apart, but the 27 remaining states of the EU have held firm. The European Commission’s red lines—principally the insistence that there can be no deal better than EU membership—have withstood the talks. As The Economist went to press, Theresa May was on her way to the European Council summit to beg for further concessions from EU leaders. They had ruled out any renegotiation of the Brexit deal and suggested only presentational tweaks, just stopping short of offering to repeat it more slowly and with pictures. Though few in Brussels relish the chaos in London and all are heartily sick of the Brexit saga, continental leaders allow themselves a little satisfaction at the competence with which their side has handled matters.

That, however, is to cling to a qualified success amid many failures. When not listening to Mrs May’s pleas, the 27 looked set to stumble through an agenda that reads as a gazetteer of roadblocks: problems where progress is proving glacial but which, if left unresolved, could ultimately fracture the union. All indicate the increasing dysfunction of the Franco-German relationship.