German Chancellor Merkel 'working Round the clock to hold the EU together'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has changed course and is now advocating a Europe of "two speeds." Her goal is to save the European project. Many do not agree with her means to the end. Max Hofmann reports from Brussels.

The German chancellor's last appearance at the EU summit in Malta was delayed. It was originally slated for 6:00 p.m. on Friday but her press statement kept getting pushed back later in the evening. The longer the waiting period was extended, the more journalists left the room to finish their stories on time. It meant that very few people were present to hear what Angela Merkel finally had to say at around 8:00 p.m: "The history of recent years has shown that there will be a multi-speed EU, and not all members will participate in the same steps of integration." The statement was barely mentioned in European media that weekend.

Yet it was the first time that Merkel clearly claimed this old idea as her own. Whoever believed it was an exclusive statement had to think again on the following Tuesday. In a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Merkel once again spoke of a Europe of "two speeds." Szydlo and her country are normally opponents of this idea but she did not contradict Merkel this time. From her point of view, the German chancellor has decided to take a pragmatic path for crisis-ridden Europe. She will follow it with her quiet determination. "That should be taken seriously," an EU diplomat in Brussels told DW.

'You see the challenges, don't you?'

In the upcoming summit in Rome, state and government heads not only want to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Economic Community, they also want to present a vision of a post-Brexit European Union. Right now it looks like a two-speed Europe will be part of this vision. Even though such a structure would allow every country the freedom to join - or not join - a project based on national decisions, many feel uneasy about it. One of them is Latvia's foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics.

"A few years ago, I would have thought it was a bad idea," he told Our source "You see the challenges, don't you?"