The EU’s rotating presidency should be scrapped

The flip side of Europeans taking much of August off is that they are expected to put in a bit of a shift come la rentrée. The back-to-school feeling has been palpable in Brussels as thousands of Eurocrats return from the 27 member states to get the EU show back on the road. After much air-kissing and a few long lunches, the prospects for the months ahead are addressed, starting with European elections ahead of next year’s summer holidays. Before then, the bloc will have much to keep it busy, such as how to police artificial intelligence, push ahead with plans to admit new members, or increase its budget to keep money flowing to Ukraine. On September 13th a grandiloquent “state of the union” speech by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will dispel any memories of beaches and sunny getaways from those who still harbour them.