27 EU leaders, over 100 members of delegations and 1,300 journalists from 70 countries, extensive security measures, traffic restrictions and hours of discussion on the future of the European Union - this is the Friday program for Bratislava, when the Slovak capital hosts an informal Summit of EU leaders. The main goal of the event is to discuss the course which the Union should take after Britons decided in a referendum in July that the UK should leave the EU. The prime ministers and presidents will also discuss social and economic security, an investment plan, digitalisation and youth unemployment. President of the European Council Donald Tusk will lead the negotiations and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker will also take part at the informal summit.
Calls for changes within the EU can be heard also from the NGO sector and trade unions before Bratislava Summit. 177 European and national civil society organisations and trade unions signed a common statement for a new direction for the European Union. The signatories sum up their ideas in several points. They call for a rejection of populist solutions and advise to tackle challenges together as the Union and not by countries individually. In their statement, the signatories also express belief that 'deregulation' is not the answer to current problems. However, they call for dialogue between all institutions and EU citizens with a goal to fight for a better, sustainable, social Europe for people and for our planet. "We stand ready to play an active role in this dialogue, and to work even harder in making the case for the benefits that working together have brought to European citizens, as well as the values for which this Union stands," reads the statement of NGOs and Trade unions.
