Tough post-Brexit road ahead for Merkel, May, Draghi

RULE No. 1 about European Union (EU) engagement after the June 23 British "Leave" vote states that almost nothing any protagonist said before the EU decision - whether from the "in" or "out" camp or from pontificating foreign leaders - holds true in the post-referendum world.

Rule No. 2 sets down that the compromises behind statements on post-Brexit Europe will grow ever more subject to complex political calculations as electoral tussles in the Netherlands, France and Germany draw nearer.

A generation ago, in negotiations over the 1991-92 Maastricht treaty that launched monetary union, then British prime minister John Major said navigating though different countries' sensitivities was "12-dimensional chess". With 27 countries in the EU against 12 then, and divisions widening on everything from migrants to Greek debt, the balancing act has grown much more convoluted.