The leaders of 44 European countries met in Prague, on Thursday 6 October, for the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community (EPC).
A “magnificent idea” for the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, “an important day for the European continent” for the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the beginning of a “great journey for the greater Europe” and the “ opportunity to strengthen our confidence and our European ambition” for her Moldovan counterpart, Maia Sandu, or “Europe's United Nations” for the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nauseda. The leaders were full of praise for the EPC.
According to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the aim is to bring together 44 countries that “share the same continent and face the same challenges in terms of stability, security, the energy situation, migration and mobility”.
For Emmanuel Macron, who is at the origin of the concept (see EUROPE 12948/3), the European political community should make it possible to build “strategic intimacy”. “The objective is first of all to share a common reading of the situation affecting our Europe, to build a common strategy and therefore a strategic conversation which until now has not really existed”, he explained. According to him, “we share the same space, often the same history, and we have a mission to write the future together. This is the EPC”.
The French president said that the meeting had allowed discussions on the crises facing the continent: the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the multiple crises in the Balkans and the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
The leaders obviously referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Mr Macron and Ms Sandu, the 44 countries stressed their unity in condemning the war. There is a strong link “of course” with the Russian invasion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, adding that it was good to see what everyone was doing to help Kyiv.
On their arrival at the summit, several leaders said that the meeting was also a signal to Putin and his allies. “All Europeans are here, except Belarus and Russia, which shows how isolated they are”, stressed the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo. For his Icelandic counterpart, Katrin Jakobsdottir, the meeting shows that “Europe is united against the Russian invasion”. “It is crucial that Russia understands that it will not break European resolve”, Ms Osmani-Sadriu added. Moreover, for the Swiss president, Ignazio Cassis, “ there is a common understanding that Russia is destabilising the continent, with energy as a weapon and with migration. Two strong weapons”.
The meeting opened with a speech by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, via video conference. Welcoming the inauguration of the EPC, he called it “an extremely powerful opportunity to restore peace”. “The European Political Community has a real possibility to become a European Peace Community. Peace! Ukraine needs it so badly. Absolutely all the countries (present at the EPC) need it”, he stressed in his speech, once again calling on the Europeans to help him.
Few concrete results
In concrete terms, however, the leaders did not decide on much, apart from the location of the next meeting: Moldova, in spring 2023. After that it will be Spain and the United Kingdom’s turn to host the European Political Community.
Emmanuel Macron also announced that the leaders had agreed on six work “paths”, “potential project lines” on which the participating countries will move forward between now and the next summit, without however explaining how. “I hope that the discussion will be followed by concrete actions and we do want to propose joint concrete actions”, added the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala.
Mr Macron began by highlighting the need to protect critical infrastructure, days after the possible sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. “We need a European strategy to protect the infrastructure such as gas pipelines, cables and satellites”, he said.
Recalling that several countries present had suffered cyber attacks, the French President stressed the need for a strategy of cooperation on the fight against cyber attacks, propaganda and disinformation.
Mr Macron also called for an approach “in this format” to several European regions: the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Caucasus, which are “exposed to uncooperative regional powers - to put it mildly”.
In addition, “we Europeans must contribute to a resilience fund for Ukraine” in EPC format, Mr Macron added, saying the idea had been suggested by Mr Zelensky.
The French President also explained that several heads of state or government - Albania, Serbia, Ireland - had raised the need to have a much more integrated youth policy “to enable our young people to have a European culture”.
Strengthening energy cooperation
Last but not least, the French President mentioned energy. Joining Mr Fiala, Mr Macron said that one of the areas of work agreed by the leaders was the development of an “integrated energy strategy”, in particular to coordinate in order to bring down energy prices.
In the face of the energy crisis affecting many countries on the continent, several leaders have stressed the need for unity.
“We must not let the energy crisis undermine our democracies. Only together can we meet this challenge”, said Ms Sandu.
Like several other EU leaders, the Czech Prime Minister reaffirmed the need to move the Union away from dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
He said that this first edition of the EPC had reassured the EU that European gas-supplying countries, such as Norway (which issued a joint declaration with the European Commission - see EUROPE 13037/17) and Azerbaijan, were “willing to contribute and cooperate with the EU countries”.
“There were several European producer countries around the table today (...) and, therefore, having a more integrated strategy is a weapon of diversification”, the French president stressed.
He also called for better electricity connections between European countries, while continuing to oppose the MidCat gas pipeline project, promoted by Spain and Germany.
For the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, the 44 leaders have sent a clear message to the energy market that they are “completely aligned” and “have the common ambition to propose measures to bring down gas prices”.
Recalling some of the measures already taken by the EU, he then said: “the general feeling is that we have to go to the other 17 countries and do something at 44”.
Soaring energy prices will be the focus of the informal EU summit on Friday 7 October. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant, Damien Genicot and Léa Marchal)