The image will be strong and full of symbols: nearly 50 European leaders meet this Thursday, June 1 in Moldova, a small country that is witnessing the invasion of neighboring Ukraine by the Russian army and lives in fear of Moscow's destabilization maneuvers.
A participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would give even more prominence to this unprecedented gathering, near the capital, Chisinau. Nothing has been announced, but it could be at the rendezvous of the "European family" after having crisscrossed the planet in recent weeks - Italy, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia for the Arab League summit, Japan for the G7 summit.
The organisation of this second summit of the European Political Community (EPC) is a considerable logistical challenge for Moldova, a former Soviet republic of less than 3 million inhabitants, which is very fragile economically.
"Family photo"
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There has simply never been an event of this magnitude in Moldova's history," said Felix Hett, an expert at the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. To arrive at the "family photo" of the 47 expected heads of state and government, a complex aerial choreography was set up to land this host of leaders on the small airport of the capital. About 2,000 participants are expected, including 700 journalists, at Château Mimi, a winery located in the village of Bulboaca, about 35 km from the capital Chisinau and just as much from Tiraspol, the capital of Transdniestria, a pro-Russian separatist region of 300,000 inhabitants in the east of the country.
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A much larger gathering than the European Union (20 countries invited in addition to the 27 members of the bloc), this forum, imagined by French President Emmanuel Macron, brings together countries with very different profiles and backgrounds: Armenia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Serbia, Azerbaijan... Compared to the first meeting in Prague, which brought together 44 countries in October 2022, three additions are added: Andorra, Monaco and San Marino. "We have to see who is in the photo, but also who is not," says Sébastien Maillard, director of the Jacques Delors Institute. "It is also an opportunity to show that the Europeans are discussing their strategic interests among themselves, without the Americans," he told AFP.
"Moldova is not alone"
For Moldova, this is an important moment, and an opportunity to reiterate - forcefully - its will and impatience to join the EU. "Russia will continue to be a great source of instability in the coming years and we must protect ourselves," Maia Sandu, the president of this small country, summed up a few days ago in an interview with AFP. "We believe that we can only save our democracy by being part of the EU."
In the run-up to the summit, Moldova tweeted a series of short video messages from key EU leaders, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressing the importance of this meeting of the "united European family". All posts were followed by the hashtag #MoldovaIsNotAlone (Moldova is not alone). If, officially, this meeting of 47 is not the forum to discuss the accession calendar, the issue will be omnipresent behind the scenes. In June 2022, the EU granted Ukraine and Moldova official candidate status. Both countries now want to take the next step.
'A positive decision'
During the last visit to Kiev of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his impatience. "The time has come to take a positive decision on the opening of accession negotiations," he said. A third EPC summit is planned for October in Granada (Spain) and a fourth in the first half of 2024 in the United Kingdom, alternating between EU and non-EU countries.
Will this community, which is not a new institution and functions without the sacrosanct final communiqué specific to international high masses, manage to be sustainable? "After the war, maybe there won't be as much eagerness to get together," admits Sébastien Maillard. This informal forum has a singular role to play and could continue, he believes.