Future of the EU is in flux as the European Council meets

EUROPEAN presidents and prime ministers meet on Thursday and Friday for the last set piece summit of the EU political calendar. While expected ratification of last week's EU-UK first phase Brexit deal will dominate the headlines, the meeting has a wide-ranging agenda, including proposed reforms to the eurozone which could prove very significant.

The event caps off an extraordinary 2017 for the EU which has seen sentiment about its future ebb and flow in remarkable fashion. At the start of the year, many in Brussels feared the potential victories of eurosceptical, far-right populist parties in France and The Netherlands. Yet, liberal centrists emerged victorious in both ballots, and there has been a spate of positive economic news to buttress this, with the eurozone economies recording improved growth.

The contrast with a year ago is stark, when the post-UK referendum mood music surrounding the EU was much more negative. However, the volatility of sentiment towards the continent has been underlined yet again in recent weeks by the failure of Angela Merkel - to date - to form a new government in Germany after September's election, which saw the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany, and recent successionist political tensions in Catalonia in Spain.