The Visegrad Four grouping has come under increasing criticism of late for
allegedly undermining EU cohesion at a time when the European Union is
fighting for its future. In a recent article the Financial Times labelled
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Sunday said he hoped a new border and coastguard force would be deployed on the European Union's outer frontiers by the end of 2016.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party suffered a bruising loss in Berlin state elections on Sunday while the right-wing populist AfD gained fresh support, capitalising on anger over her open-door refugee policy.
The "Brexit cruise" didn't get very far. EU leaders drifted down the Danube for an hour, said little about Britain over a leisurely shipboard lunch, then circled back to Bratislava to resume Friday's summit.
A man attends a demonstration against the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA in Berlin.
Ukraine is doing less than Russia to meet its obligations under the Minsk agreement, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday, stepping up calls for the European Union to end sanctions against Moscow.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stepped up his attacks against other European Union leaders on Sunday after an EU summit in Bratislava which he said amounted to no more than "a nice cruise on the Danube." Renzi said at the end of Friday's summit he was dissatisfied with its
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern prior to a group photo an EU summit in Bratislava on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016.
Gert noticed that the view from Swidnica is a bit similar to the view in his picture from Kosice in Slovakia. In the Workshop he shows the plague column.
A Hungarian ranger, Zsolt Takacs, guarding the fence on Hungary's border with Serbia on Wednesday. Hungary built the fence last year to stop the flow of migrants and refugees from entering the country.
