For the first time in years, leaders from across the European Union posed together for a “family photo” at Thursday’s EU summit. Well, everyone but the prime minister of Britain.
The group photo ritual, once routine at the leaders’ quarterly summits in Brussels, hasn't taken place since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the bloc. Former EU Council President Donald Tusk wanted the visiting dignitaries to get straight to business instead.
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For the first time in years, leaders from across the European Union posed together for a “family photo” at Thursday’s EU summit. Well, everyone but the prime minister of Britain.
This week, however, the EU summit coincided with the British election. So no British prime minister is in the building.
And Merkel’s no longer the only woman in the picture, but one of six: New European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took center stage, the Austrian, Belgian and Danish leaders were among those standing behind her, and everyone extended a warm welcome to new Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
European Council President Charles Michel, left, French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, walk by EU flags prior to a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, walks with other EU leaders to a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
It was tough to hold a photo op vaunting continental unity amid the past three years of Britain’s torturous negotiations with the other 27 EU members to get out of the bloc.
European Union leaders pose for a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
This week, however, the EU summit coincided with the British election. So no British prime minister is in the building.
The photo moment won’t solve deep differences in the troubled EU family over how to manage money, deal with migrants or fight climate change. As soon as it ended, the leaders clustered in separate groups, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walked away.
But it suggested an evolving, forward-looking mood in the EU under its just-installed leadership.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with European Council President Ursula von der Leyen, center, and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
And Merkel’s no longer the only woman in the picture, but one of six: New European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took center stage, the Austrian, Belgian and Danish leaders were among those standing behind her, and everyone extended a warm welcome to new Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, right, during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
European Council President Charles Michel, left, French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, walk by EU flags prior to a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, walks with other EU leaders to a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. European Union leaders gathered for their year-end summit and discussed climate change funding, the departure of the UK from the bloc and their next 7-year budget. (AP PhotoOlivier Matthys)