TALLINN — Fittingly for a summit on the digital future, EU leaders gathered in Estonia proclaimed their resolve to move forward faster, further and more effectively than ever before — in hopes of outpacing the populist forces that spawned Brexit and Donald Trump, and just put a far-right party in the Bundestag.

But behind the scenes, a tug-of-war was underway over who would lead the push. Would it be Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker or Council President Donald Tusk? Angela Merkel, struggling to cobble together a German coalition government? Or France's Emmanuel Macron, whose ambitious ideas for the Continent may outstrip his experience or ability to build consensus in the 28-member European Council?

That tussle masks a generational struggle: Postwar baby-boomers from the generation of Juncker (62), Merkel (63), and Tusk (60) have dominated the Council for nearly two decades, leaving Generation Xers like Macron (39) and the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg — Mark Rutte (well, 50), Charles Michel (41), and Xavier Bettel (44) — impatient to take up the baton.

“It’s for our generation to build a Europe that protects,” Macron, tweeted along with a video of him and Bettel, walking in Tallinn.

For the moment, though, it seemed Macron’s generation might need to wait just a bit longer.

The summit saw Juncker — whose ambitious State of the Union speech made clear he is far from done leaving his mark on the Continent — show an interest in all things digital, surprising even his own aides. He brought handouts and a pointed speech chastising the Council, and by extension Tusk and national leaders, for moving too slowly to implement 18 of his Commission’s legislative proposals on digital.

Tusk took control of an informal dinner with no agenda that threatened to give May a platform to talk Brexit.

“Since the beginning of the mandate, the Commission has put forward 43 initiatives to complete the digital single market, of which 24 [are] legislative proposals,” Juncker said, adding that only six had been voted into law so far.

“Over the same period, the need to achieve a digital single market was repeatedly discussed amongst ourselves and in 10 different summits we have agreed to ‘complete the digital single market,’” he said, lecturing leaders on the need to deliver on their promises (and apparently adding how easy it would be to implement his own proposals since no treaty change is required).

According to participants of the meeting, Juncker went on waving factsheets until the host, Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas, interjected to request copies of the graphics-heavy explanatory notes which were duly delivered. (You can have yours too: Here, here, here and here.)

Before it's too late ...

A year ago, when leaders met for a similar summit in Bratislava, they were reeling from the blow of the Brexit vote and were in fear of the damage populist candidates might wreak in national elections in Austria, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Trump’s upset victory in the United States two months later only heightened those fears, but it also spurred action and seemed to awaken Europe’s silent center.

Victory presents its own set of challenges. And Tusk, who has worked hard to keep the bloc intact since Bratislava, now finds himself tasked with preserving unity for the Brexit negotiations while managing old tensions — with Hungary and Poland — and emerging rivalries, such as France and Germany.

Macron has made no secret of his pan-European ambitions. He waited until just after the German election to reveal them in a two-hour speech at the Sorbonne filled with big ideas.

Tusk tried to seize back the reins. From Ratas, he took control of an informal dinner with no agenda that threatened to give May a platform to talk Brexit. He then issued a letter to the leaders seeking to frame the conversation in a way that would give Macron only limited room to run, while Merkel remained constrained by domestic politics.

It half-worked. May was not able to lobby on Brexit. But Tusk himself was slapped down by national leaders who felt he was allowing too much big-vision blabbing without concrete policy initiatives for Council members to show to voters at home.

Tusk quickly back-tracked, announcing that at the leaders’ request he would present a new roadmap, effectively a concrete work plan that would give the Council clear direction and objectives, leading to a special summit in Sibiu, Romania, on March 30, 2019 — the day after the U.K.’s expected formal withdrawal.

Between now and then, leaders made clear they wanted to take a much more hands-on approach, including by meeting together more often.

Meanwhile, the jostling continued and is certain to intensify.

Macron, in his final news conference, hailed the “very free” discussion in Tallinn and leaders' decision to "accelerate the work and gain ambition" at more regular meetings.

“We have to start working now,” Macron said, “because in five, in 10 years, it will be too late."

Not so fast, was Merkel's message before she left the summit venue: She said there is consensus to "increase the intensity of the cooperation" and that it was for Tusk to come up with a plan on "sequencing and on how to conduct this process."

Her own plan included putting the digital economy and migration at the top of the agenda and talking about reforms of the EU and the eurozone only "after thorough discussion."