Theresa May’s crucial role in last EU summit negotiations on migrations could make your forget that BREXIT was on the agenda

POLITICO: As a former U.K. home secretary, May was in her element in the marathon negotiation on migration policy. You could almost have forgotten that Brexit was on the agenda too.

While the core of the eventual compromise was a proposal championed by France’s Emmanuel Macron to create “controlled centers” for asylum seekers on EU territory, May intervened helpfully to describe the U.K.’s efforts at strategic communications to discourage migrants from turning to smugglers

She made clear Britain’s own interest in helping Europe manage migration and asylum and helped to negotiate important changes in the (English) language of the leaders’ conclusions. When the nine-hour debate ended just before dawn, May emerged looking as exhausted — and as happy — as her EU27 colleagues.

Of course, the U.K. remains a full member of the EU until formal withdrawal on March 29, 2019, and London has a clear interest in cultivating good will.

“You have to give it to her,” said a senior EU official. “She did in fact contribute constructively and positively to the migration debate. We will miss the U.K. for so many reasons. This is just another one of them.”