How Poland's Szydlo fought the EU and lost

For a while on Friday morning (10 March) her 26 partners thought she would not show up.

But Polish prime minister Beata Szydlo was just late and she joined the discussion on the future of Europe that had started without her.

She was helpful in those talks, sources said. Much more so than in recent days, when she adopted what one top EU official called an "aggressive and counter-productive approach".

On Thursday, she had fought alone and in vain against the other EU leaders...