No jaunty soundbites or cheesy grins as leaders go into conclave on euro's D-Day

The Taoiseach chatted to Angela Merkel before taking his place, but, awkwardly, only Estonia separated Ireland from Greece

D-DAY AT the Justus Lipsius building, the peach-and-glass cube in Brussels where European leaders went into conclave in the glare of the world’s attention last night.

The stakes could scarcely have been higher, and it showed. Gone were the jaunty soundbites and obligatory grins to the throng of waiting journalists, though Silvio Berlusconi did offer a waxen smile as he strode silently past the loudest calls from the press.

The mood was grave and sombre. Cavalcades with motorcycle outriders swung past at dizzying speed, delegations stepping one by one into the harsh glare of flashguns and the din of camera shutters.

First, more than an hour early, came the Finnish delegation, followed by Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde.

Rumours whirled. Did this mean a pre-summit confab of the deepest pockets was under way? What did the body language say? Deal or no deal? Nobody knew.

So cautious and sparing with insight were the politicians that journalists did what journalists with little to feed on tend to do; they started interviewing each other.

Then Greek prime minister George Papandreou stepped out of his car. He did little to dampen the sense of occasion, speaking importantly of “safeguarding the ideals of Europe”, of peace and prosperity, of the “super-human” efforts of his compatriots.

Nicolas Sarkozy, wearing his trademark black tie, looked grave and purposeful but said nothing. “We are all coming here with the aim of achieving great progress,” said Merkel. Europe needed the “most comprehensive solution possible”, said David Cameron.

Six o’clock drew close, and the indistinguishable flow of black BMWs and Audis (and the Czechs’ flashy white Skoda) sped up. Hungary. Poland. Sweden.

Commission president José Manuel Barroso drove around from next door. José Luis Zapatero from Madrid came on foot, followed by a phalanx of stressed-looking officials and some empty people-carriers. Everyone looked exhausted – except Finnish prime minister Jyrki Katainen, who turned 40 earlier this month but somehow looks all the younger.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was among the last to arrive. Was he confident? “I understand that some progress has been made in a number of areas, but clearly leaders of the euro zone will have their own individual points of view,” he said.

“I hope there will be a decision taken that can have confidence of the markets and those watching us, and that there will be certainty after tonight’s discussions.”

Inside, the leaders shook hands and made multilingual patter for the cameras. They have grown wearily familiar of one anther over the past two years – more than 17 summits on the debt crisis have taken place since early 2010, some of them lasting for 20 hours or more over two days. They made a good show for the cameras of pretending they were glad to see each other again. Sarkozy and Merkel made a point of entering the room together. The Taoiseach chatted to Merkel before taking his place between his Cypriot and Estonian counterparts (awkwardly, only Estonia separated Ireland from Greece).

And then the doors closed, the breezy patter faded and the hard talking resumed.