Turkey and the United Kingdom “should be invited” to the first meeting of the European Political Community, which is due to bring together the leaders of the Twenty-Seven and those of candidate countries for membership or neighbors of the bloc on October 6, we learned on Wednesday from European sources.
Besides the EU Member States, the leaders of the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, Moldova, Iceland, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein should “soon” receive an invitation, according to one of these sources.
“This list is final,” said a European diplomat. Another diplomatic source said more cautiously that “consultations were continuing”.
This project for a political dialogue and cooperation platform was launched by French President Emmanuel Macron and endorsed in June during an EU summit. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed his support for the initiative at the end of August.
Read also:
The first meeting will take place at the level of Heads of State and Government on October 6 in the Czech Republic, the country which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, on the eve of a summit of the Twenty-Seven.
It should allow “a political discussion on strategic issues of common interest for the European continent”, “mainly Russia’s war once morest Ukraine, the energy crisis and the economic situation”, it is underlined. from a European source.
It should consist of a plenary session, round tables, bilateral meetings and a closing dinner. This European Political Community does not constitute an alternative solution to the enlargement of the EU, the same source insists.
In his speech to the French ambassadors on September 1, Emmanuel Macron explained that the European Political Community was intended to meet every six months.
The question of Turkey’s participation – which has heated border disputes between Greece and Cyprus – “is raised by many other members, it will be debated, and France has no veto to put”, had -he says.
For the UK, which has left the EU, the invitation to the forum should be sent to the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
With MAP
