EU summit: Tired European leaders left waiting for their ‘English lunch’

EU leaders have a funny way of going about their negotiations. The best way, it seems, is to conduct most of the talks in the middle of the night in order to create a sense of urgency and pressure, and then spend the next day sleep-deprived and not eating. The ‘working breakfast’ that was originally supposed to start at 10 then became a late breakfast, before turning into a brunch, ‘English lunch’ (which sounded unhealthy), late lunch, and now it is ‘foreseen’ to be at 4pm. This is surely afternoon tea.

There are reports that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras has threatened to veto the whole deal unless there is a commitment to keeping the Greek border open until March, though the threat seems rather vague if briefings from Greek sources to the press are anything to go by. Tsipras apparently linked migration and the renegotiation in talks last night. But it isn’t clear whether the much-delayed lunch is being held up by the Greeks, or by a general lack of agreement on the issues that British officials named ‘serious differences’ over last night.

Meanwhile the Polish Europe Minister told reporters that leaders need ‘some more hours’. Hopefully there is not a hold-up over how many hours there are in each day.