Bratislava Summit Failed as 'EU More Divided Without UK'

Stefano Stefanini, former representative of Italy to NATO, called the recent EU informal summit a failure, adding that the bloc became more divided without the United Kingdom.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The EU leaders’ summit in the Slovak capital of Bratislava ended last Friday in a joint declaration that pledged to make success of the 27-nation union after Brexit.

"Bratislava was a failure. The EU minus UK is more divided than the EU with the UK," Stefanini said, as quoted by The Daily Express newspaper on Tuesday, adding that expectations that Brexit vote could unite the member states had vanished.

Following the Bratislava summit, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi argued that the EU leaders had missed an opportunity to agree concrete measures on tackling immigration and boosting economic growth.

On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to decide whether the it should leave or remain in the European Union. According to the final results, 51.9 percent of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it.