But Tusk and Juncker’s crucial, often little-noticed role is not just to represent a big market but also the smaller countries within it — nations such as Estonia, Malta and Cyprus — that don’t have their own seat at the table. At these swanky shindigs for big powers, their presence is a reminder that the EU operates collectively and might does not always make right.
“Many of the issues that are discussed at G7 level, for our EU member states, these are issues of [European] Community competence,” said a senior EU official who is part of the delegation to Sicily. [...]
With Trump and Brexit posing new and uncertain challenges, the joint press conference Tusk and Juncker normally hold before the start of the summit drew a large crowd Friday. They used that platform to push the EU’s fundamental priorities, which include the very idea of multilateralism itself.
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