Three leaders meet on an aircraft carrier to declaim that Europe will stay strong. It sounds dramatic but the gathering of Angela Merkel, François Hollande and Matteo Renzi on Monday mainly saw them relieved that short-term risks to the eurozone economy had not materialised.
The gathering of leaders from the eurozone’s three largest economies came ahead of an EU summit in Slovakia in September that will probably be dominated by the relationship with the UK in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
As far as the economies of most EU countries are concerned, the Brexit poll has had far less impact than many feared. But while the three leaders talk about the need for more European policy co-ordination, their economic problems remain the same as before the UK referendum. In large part these problems do not require “more Europe”.