Posted on October 6, 2022 at 6:45 p.m. Updated October 6, 2022 at 10:30 p.m.
The first meeting of the European Political Community, a new forum for cooperation across Europe from Iceland to Azerbaijan (with 44 guests), on Thursday achieved one of its goals: a truly historic family photo, made despite strong tensions between some guests.
Therefore, under the great Gothic vault of the Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle, not far from the geographical center of the continent, 42 heads of state and government posed in a rather good-natured atmosphere, despite the gravity of the events of the last month. The Danish Mette Frederiksen had commitments in Copenhagen and the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was late.
In the middle are Emmanuel Macron, father of the initiative, and Petr Fiala, Czech Prime Minister and host of the conference. Around them are frontline leaders of support for Ukraine, like Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, others for lifting sanctions on Moscow, like Hungarian Viktor Orban.
Signal to Russia
But, summarized Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy: “This meeting is an attempt to find a new order without Russia. That doesn’t mean we want to exclude Russia forever, but this Russia, Putin’s Russia, has no place.”
In the plenary session, the Norwegian Prime Minister spoke about the energy situation after Petr Fiala’s opening speech, and his flamboyant Albanian counterpart welcomed the creation of this new format, which initially sparked skepticism in May when Emmanuel Macron presented the concept. He represented the group of countries in a hurry to join the EU.
British offensive
The domestically weakened new British Prime Minister Liz Truss also spoke. While we initially wondered if she would go to Prague, two years after the rough split of the EU and the UK, she apparently jumped at the opportunity to pose as a key figure in the organization of the continent.
The meeting was also an opportunity for Franco-British rapprochement. Paris and London have agreed to organize a Franco-British summit in France next year “to advance a renewed bilateral agenda”, particularly on energy and immigration (nuclear and coastal surveillance). After the end of the meeting, Emmanuel Macron expressed his satisfaction that the UK is taking a constructive approach again after the difficult Johnson years.
defuse conflicts
The leaders, who took part in four round tables throughout the day, identified seven areas of cooperation: protecting essential infrastructure (cables, gas pipelines, satellites) after the sabotage observed in the Baltic Sea, fighting cybercrime, fighting hostile powers in four vulnerable regions (North Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, Caucasus), increased support for Ukraine, an integrated energy strategy, migration and a common youth policy (student exchange, researcher exchange).
Many bilateral, tripartite and quadripartite meetings have taken place, particularly to try to defuse the sometimes heated arguments between some of the participants. Emmanuel Macron therefore met twice with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It is now certain that there will be a second meeting of the European Political Community in Moldova in the first half of 2023. Spain, which will hold the EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2023, is expected to host the third and Britain the fourth.
Informal summit of the Twenty-Seven
Following that meeting, the Twenty-Seven remain in Prague for a more technical informal summit on Friday. They will focus on providing financial assistance to Ukraine, deteriorating economic conditions and securing critical infrastructure.
They will again discuss ways to combat energy price inflation, which threatens to have a major structural impact on the European economy. The industry is facing a huge loss of competitiveness against its North American and Asian competitors. European Employers’ President Fredrik Persson warned the Twenty-Seven on Thursday about the risks of relocating certain production outside the EU.