European Union kicks off tumultuous 2017

EUROPE'S political leaders will meet in Malta on Friday for the first summit of what could be one of the most tumultuous years ever for the European Union. The bloc will continue the process of mapping out how the continent best moves forward post-Brexit in what could be another highly uncertain election year with populist forces potentially making big gains across the continent, plus growing external opposition to Brussels, including from the Trump administration.

Some 60 years after the Treaty of Rome, which was one of the EU's founding treaties, European Council President Donald Tusk said this week that the …