Or because the actual work to develop options and brief on the facts prior to the emergency meeting of decision makers is going to happen through Sunday.
Most of the work related to any meeting of decision-makers, even an emergency meeting, happens before the meeting.
Not really.
> Even UN is moving faster.
Yeah, but all the UN would do in even an ideal (in terms of ability to decide on approach) situation would be to declare broad principles and call on other countries to take action of broadly-specified types to acheive them (with Russia's veto on the UNSC and role in the current crisis, there's about zero chance of even that happening unless Russia's rep gets lost on the way to the chamber.)
OTOH, the EU is more likely to need to evaluate not just what it wants to achieve, but what it can actually concretely do with its real actual resources to achieve its goals, which mean that there is, in practical terms, a lot more substance for the EU to address than the UNSC.
I don't think that there was any intent of being secret or saving face, just that because formal authorization from parliament hadn't yet been made, they couldn't move in under Russia's flag.