Endles summits taking a toll on EU leaders

Summits have began to take a toll on EU leaders (image by EC)

There is no end in sight for the travelling EU summit circus. Since the euro crisis began in early  2010, there have been at least 17 summits, and nobody probably has counted the number of different bilateral and finance minister meetings. And new summits and ministerial meetings are planned for next week .....

Reuters tells us that the (EU/euro) summits have began to "take a toll on tense EU leaders":

"Those that don't get along can no longer hide it. The personality conflicts are bubbling to the surface, with diplomatic spats and disagreements growing ever more public, complicating efforts to resolve an already complex situation."

"For Van Rompuy, who started his job just as the crisis began, and for Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission and another key figure in the crisis-fighting effort, the stress and strain is no less severe.
Staffers describe both as being drained, even if publicly they put on a positive face".

However, there is no need to feel very much sympathy for our elected leaders - and even less so for the unelected ones - who have created the mess we are in. But one can sympathize with the staffers, who have to try to find luxurious suites in Brussels for their masters, often on extremely short notice.

At least there is now one more luxury suite available at The Amigo, "the dormitory of choice for visiting heads of state, the grand and the famous" according to the Guardian. It´s the suite where Pierre Mariani, CEO of the recently bailed out bank Dexia, has resided during the last three years, according the FT Deutschland. Perhaps a suitable accomodation for the Greek PM?

If there are winners in this continuing theater of the absurd, it must be the hotel and restaurant business. The actors (it would be too rude to call them clowns) of course must have a place where to stay and eat between the performances.