I saw a report which suggested that there is no love lost between Ursula vd Leyen and Charles Michel. He apparently made a big point of taking the vacant chair and then letting UvdL know she wasn't going to get a seat with equal billing.

The EU hamstrung itself in having 2 representatives. If they're both saying the same thing, why have both of them? If they say different things, which one is the official position?

Dealing with nationalists such as Putin in Russia or the UK tories is always gonna be a problem, they always have to do brinksmanship for domestic consumption, they don't really represent serious politics.

keep to the Fen Causeway