Leaders from across Europe gather in Prague to stage Russia’s “isolation”

“The entire European continent is here except for two countries: Belarus and Russia. That shows how isolated they are”, highlights the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo. The majestic Prague Castle hosts this Thursday the inaugural meeting of the European Political Communitya new forum for dialogue that goes beyond the EU to also include the candidate countries (such as Ukraine, Turkey or the Balkans), those who are happy outside (Norway or Switzerland) and those who have left (United Kingdom) .

“What we’re going to see here is that all of Europe is united against Russia’s invasion of Ukraineis united against this war of aggression,” said Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir. For the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, the priority of this new forum must be “ensure security in Europeparticularly now with Russia’s terrible aggression in Ukraine”, as well as finding common positions in “energy, climate change and economics”.

“This is a very important step in strengthen this solidarity cooperation far beyond the EU, with countries with which the EU has maintained very intense and very important relations for many years: the Balkans, Turkey, the United Kingdom now since its departure, and also all the countries on the Eastern Front. I believe that this European Political Community is a magnificent idea”, maintains the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez.

[Truss y Erdogan se unen a la Comunidad Política Europea, el nuevo foro de seguridad en el continente]

“Europe is facing its biggest crisis since World War II.. And we have faced it together with unity and determination. We must continue to stand firm, to ensure that Ukraine wins this war, but also to deal with the strategic challenges that it has exposed.” Liz Truss.

In his view, Europe has allowed the Russian threat to fester for far too long. “Now, at last, we are tackling Putin’s aggression head-on. And we should take the same approach with other challenges that lie ahead, including long-standing regional problems such as energy and migration,” says Truss. For the head of EU diplomacy, Joseph Borrellthe goal is to define a new European order without Russia.

“It is about showing a message of unity in our Europe. build strategic intimacy for all Europeanswhether or not they are members of the EU. The objective is to share the same reading of the situation that affects our Europe, to develop a common strategy and a strategic conversation that did not exist until now and could generate divisions”, highlighted the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the intellectual author of the project.

ill-suited countries

In fact, the guest list (all EU plus Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK) it includes a large number of countries at odds or in conflict.

This is the case of Ukraine (at war with Russia), Armenia and Azerbaijan (which in recent weeks have been on the verge of open conflict), Kosovo and Serbia (with the particularity that there are five EU countries, including Spain, which does not recognize Kosovo), or from Turkey, Greece and Cyprus (engaged in constant territorial disputes).

Hence the complexity when organizing the choreography of the first meeting of the European Political Community in Prague. After an opening plenary session with the intervention by videoconference of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders will divide into four working tables dedicated to peace and security and energy, climate and economic situation.

At the end of the afternoon they have been left more than two hours free for bilateral meetings, before the closing plenary session that will take place at 19:30. Given the deep divergences that exist, the Czech presidency of the European Union has given up on drawing up a joint final statement. The leaders are satisfied with agreeing on common messages for the different press conferences.