With policy splits among European Union countries putting their bloc under existential threat, national leaders agreed Friday, September 16 on a six-month timetable to come up with solutions for the multiple crises hobbling their union. But they delivered few concrete commitments on ways to bridge the deep differences, the Associated Press reports.

While not on the agenda, Britain's decision to leave the EU hung over the meeting, reinforced by the absence of British Prime Minister Theresa May. But the 27 leaders attending talks in the Slovak capital had plenty of other divisive issues to discuss: Migration, a common European defense policy, worrying unemployment and the anemic state of the economy.

In the end, the leaders committed to have a clear roadmap of the way ahead and some practical results when they meet in late March to mark the 60th anniversary of the EU founding Treaty of Rome in the Italian capital.

"Europe can, must move forward, as long as it has clear priorities: protection, security, prosperity and the future of the youth," said French President Francois Hollande in a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel called the current situation in the EU "critical," not only because Britain voted in June to leave the EU, the first ever member to do so.

She noted the migration crisis and economic problems that have fed growing disenchantment with the EU among many member states. Still, she said there was a common willingness to bounce back beyond the many issues that divide and even anger individual EU nations.

EU Council President Donald Tusk agreed, saying the mood in the EU now was "sober but not defeatist," AFP says.