Merkel positive despite no EU summit breakthrough

German chancellor Angela Merkel put on a brave face after initial negotiations at the EU summit in Brussels saw no breakthrough.

“There is no result to announce,” she said. “We had an initial exchange of views around the table, all concerns have been aired, and tomorrow we’ll take another look at things.”

Europe’s heads of state are meeting to try and hammer out a compromise deal on a revised constitutional treaty.

But with the UK and Poland digging in their heels on certain issues, Merkel, whose EU presidency role ends next month, admitted that she couldn’t say whether an agreement was possible.

“But there is a readiness on both sides,” she said. “We are meeting again around lunchtime (Friday) to see if any progress has been made.”

She said that the atmosphere was “good and open”, but repeated that she could not say whether talks would succeed.

“It is not bad news,” the German chancellor insisted. “No one tonight said: ‘I don’t want to reach an agreement tomorrow’. There was an atmosphere of mutual understanding.”

There was one positive outcome achieved last night – as expected, both Malta and Cyprus were accepted into the eurozone.

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