Valdai Club

The EU’s leaders do not want to run the risk of a no-deal Brexit. Hence they will probably accept London's bid for an extension of negotiations, even though some European politicians have called for conditions to be attached to their approval of this delay. At the same time, the EU wants to keep the costs of leaving high, to show the outside world and all member states that quitting membership in the club is a complicated and expensive endeavour, writes Kai-Olaf Lang, Senior research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The Salzburg summit of EU leaders on September 19 and 20 seemed to be a further element in the long series of stagnation in European policy.