Angela Merkel says EU in `critical situation`

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, listens to the opening remarks at an EU summit at Bratislava Castle in Bratislava on September 16, 2016.

Bratislava: German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Friday that the European Union faces a "critical situation", as she arrived in Bratislava for a summit to chart a post-Brexit future.

"We are in a critical situation. We have to show with our actions that we can get better," Merkel told reporters.

Merkel said the bloc had to improve "in the domain of security, internal and external security, the fight against terrorism, the cooperation in the field of defence."

She added that the EU had to "get better in the issues of growth and jobs."

Twenty-seven EU leaders are meeting -- without Britain -- to try to draw up a roadmap for the future after Britons voted in a June referendum to leave the bloc.