EPC Summit opens today at Mimi Castle
The Republic of Moldova is hosting an event of international importance, which brings together about 50 heads of state, government and European institutions. The Summit of the European Political Community (EPC) opens its work today at the Mimi Castle in Bulboaca commune. European leaders will discuss issues related to the security of the European continent in the context of the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, energy security. On the eve of the event, the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, declared that this meeting will strengthen the political dialogue between EU member states and those outside, will provide real opportunities for the interconnection of the Republic of Moldova in the European space.
Program of the CPE Summit from Bulboaca
The event will start at 10:00. President Maia Sandu will welcome the delegations, who come to Bulboaca commune. The official opening ceremony of the event will take place at 12:00 and will last 30 minutes. The leaders will take a family photo, after which the round tables will be held. Bilateral meetings will follow, which will take place in the afternoon.
The press conference is scheduled for 17:00 and will be held by the president Maia Sandu together with the European leaders. The topics to be discussed at this international forum will be focused on security, energy and connectivity.
"Security is the most pressing issue and we all understand why because we have a war on the border and because we want peace to return to the continent and to sleep peacefully knowing that no one dies in Ukraine and there is no danger to us and for other countries", declared the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, on the eve of the event.
The European Political Community, which meets for its second summit on June 1 in Bulboaca, in the Republic of Moldova, is "the child of the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion", a club designed, among other things, to offer "a visible European home" to Ukraine, shows the first analysis published by the Institute for Geopolitics in Brussels, created together with the EPC, in 2022.
Traffic on the routes in Chisinau on June 1, in the context of the CPE Summit
Traffic on some road sections in Chisinau will be restricted on June 1. In this sense, the authorities recommend pedestrians and drivers to choose routes that bypass the routes on which the official delegations will travel. Maps of these routes can be accessed HERE.
Likewise, there will be some traffic limitations on the Bulboaca-Chisinau routes and vice versa.
Also, drivers are urged not to park in areas with traffic restrictions, in connection with the CPE Summit. Cars that are still left in those areas will be towed to adjacent streets.
The traffic of public transport will be reorganized. Until June 2, trolleybuses, buses and minibuses will run on fixed routes, with interruptions and delays. All changes can be consulted HERE.
According to the mayor Ion Ceban, on June 1, the most difficult situation will be for the residents of the city of Sîngera, the villages of Dobrogea, Revaca and the Galata neighborhood of the Botanica sector, who will not have access to public transport.
Decisive day: Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh could end in Chisinau. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who are in full process of negotiations for a peace agreement, will meet tomorrow in the Republic of Moldova. The event will be held under the auspices of Paris leader Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel, the Elysée Palace confirmed on Tuesday, according to Agence France Presse.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian and Azeri President Ilham Aliev already met in the same context at the first summit of the European Political Community, which took place in Prague in October.
Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have intensified and appear to have made progress in recent weeks under the impetus of the European Union and the United States.
On May 14, at a meeting organized in Brussels by Charles Michel, the parties agreed on mutual recognition of territorial integrity. Baku and Yerevan have fought two wars — in the early 1990s and again in 2020 — over control of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2020, Armenia ceded parts of the territory it had controlled for decades. The Azerbaijanis have also been blocking a vital road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh for several months.
What does the European Political Community represent?
The European Political Community (EPC) aims to promote political dialogue and cooperation in order to address issues of common interest and to strengthen the security, stability and prosperity of the European continent. This political coordination platform does not replace any existing organization, structure or process, nor does it seek to create new ones at this stage. Created at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, the European Political Community was launched last year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an intergovernmental forum.
At the inaugural summit in Prague in October 2022, Macron referred to the platform as "an opportunity to build a strategic intimacy in Europe". He rejected the idea that this community would replace the European Union, thus calming the leaders of the Western Balkans and the European Union's eastern neighborhood.
Despite the fact that the first edition did not produce tangible results, European leaders suggested that they liked the idea of a forum that would provide a "freer framework" in which they could discuss without being limited by certain formalities or strict deadlines for speeches , imposed by other, more formal political organizations.
Three characteristics clearly differentiate the EPC from other European structures: firstly, it is not concerned with "delivering concrete results" or issuing "official communiques", allowing political leaders to debate what and how long is needed. Second, it keeps a certain distance from the EU. Third, it "primarily emphasizes shared security interests, not shared values," which of course allows the club to be much more permissive and welcoming.
The next EPC Summit will take place in October, in the Spanish city of Granada, and another – in Great Britain, for the first half of 2024. The rotation of hosts will be ensured, once every six months, by EU and non-EU countries.
The EPC summit from Bulboaca, in the media's attention
The proceedings of the meeting will be broadcast live by the Public Broadcaster "Teleradio-Moldova" in partnership with Romanian Television and the European Radio and Television Union. According to estimates, the audience will exceed 700 million across the European continent.
The EPC Summit in Bulboaca will be watched live in special editions on public radio and television stations: Radio Moldova and Moldova 1 TV.
656 journalists were accredited to cover the event, of which 177 are from the Republic of Moldova. Most journalists are from France – 66. There will also be media representatives from China, Argentina and other non-European countries.
