Tension hampers works at EU summit

EU leaders are meeting – without the UK – to try and forge a common vision for Europe, as serious tensions make 2017 one of the bloc’s toughest years ever.
The Polish government’s fury at the reappointment of fellow Pole Donald Tusk as European Council head meant there was no consensus.
The conclusions – normally an expression of EU unity – came instead from Mr. Tusk personally.
He referred to reasons “unrelated” to the substance of the summit.
A long-running feud between him and Jaroslaw Kaczynski – the nationalist guiding the current Polish government – caused the latest debacle.
On 25 March, the 27 EU leaders meet in Rome, to mark 60 years since the founding of the European Economic Community with the Treaty of Rome.
But shortly after that, the UK plans to trigger Brexit, the first withdrawal of a member state, a process fraught with risk and uncertainty.