YEREVAN – The eighth summit of the European Political Community is held today in the capital of Armenia, with a focus on three areas – energy, defence and reliable supply chains, announced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her doorstep remarks. “We are too overdependent on imported fossil
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YEREVAN – The eighth summit of the European Political Community is held today in the capital of Armenia, with a focus on three areas – energy, defence and reliable supply chains, announced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her doorstep remarks.
“We are too overdependent on imported fossil fuels and therefore always dependent on volatile global markets. We have to increase our assets at home in Europe”, von der Leyen said.
She added that there is a “vast amount of money that is available for investments” in defence.
The European Political Community is a forum of EU and non-EU countries launched in 2022 on the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron. It meets two times a year, once in a non-EU country and once in a country holding the EU Council Presidency.
This is the first time EPC is taking place in Armenia, and the summit will be followed by the first-ever EU-Armenia summit.
In his remarks at the summit, President of the European Council António Costa said that this, “like in previous Summits, the EPC will be a catalyst for action”.
“Action in support of Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia. And also, in building a European Coalition against Drugs. I would like to thank Emmanuel (Macron) and Giorgia (Meloni) for further advancing this important initiative”, Costa said.
He also thanked the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, for attending the EPC for the first time and as the first representative of a non-European state.
“The world of today is not just marked by growing instability. There is a second important trend: the world’s increasing multipolarity. This is a trend that requires multipolar partnership to promote sustainable peace and to ensure shared prosperity. On all these levels, Canada is more than like-minded, it is a close partner”, Costa said.
Western Balkan leaders – Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, PM of Kosovo Albin Kurti and PM of Serbia Đuro Macut, President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović and President of North Macedonia Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, as well as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Bećirović – also participate in the summit.
During the day, the cabinet of the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović announced that he had received an official invitation from the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola to address the EP in mid-June.
