Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, has made preparations to host the second European Political Community (EPC) Summit, a meeting which will bring together around 50 leaders from 47 countries.
The second EPC gathering is scheduled to be held on Thursday, June 1 2023 at Mimi Castle, Bulboaca 35 km from Chisinau, Moldova. Organizers are already calling it the largest international event in the country’s history.
The decision to host the summit in Moldova, an ex-Soviet country with a population of around 2.6 million, is seen as a message to the Kremlin by both the European Union and the pro-Western Moldovan government, which acquired EU candidate status in June of last year at the same time as Ukraine.
Roads were being resurfaced, crosswalks were being painted, and EU flags were being hung in Chisinau and along the 35-kilometer (21-mile) route to the rural summit location in Bulboaca in preparation for the arrival of the heads of state and government from European Union countries and other continental states.
European leaders started arriving in Moldova on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, the eve of the summit. The attendance of prominent leaders like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and von der Leyen speaks to the commitment of ensuring Russia’s ambitions to control Moldova do not go unopposed.
Upon her arrival in the capital, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen averred, “The presence of 50 European leaders, 50 heads of state and government right now in Moldova, in Chisinau, gives a very strong message. Moldova is at the heart of Europe. Moldova is Europe.”
Moldovan President Maia Sandu has called the summit “a testament to growing unity on the (European) continent.”
The summit is a “resolute reaffirmation of our unwavering dedication to peace, a strong condemnation of Russia’s invasion (and of Moldova’s) continued solidarity with Ukraine,” Sandu added.
Moldovan officials have pointed to the summit’s venue at Mimi Castle, an opulent late-19th-century winery only around 12 miles (20 kilometers) from both Ukraine and Transnistria, as a defiant signal of the EU’s dedication to the region in the face of Russia’s aggression.
It is the second meeting of the EPC, the brainchild of Macron, who envisioned it as “a new space for political and security cooperation, cooperation in the energy sector, in transport, investments, infrastructures, the free movement of persons and in particular, of our youth.”
Moscow Skeptical About EPC Summit
According to Kremlin Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, Moscow is skeptical about the European Political Community summit in Moldova because it will not represent a proper political process in a divided Europe.
“We will certainly follow the news that comes out of Chisinau. We will follow the rhetoric that dominates there. At the same time, some European processes in a divided Europe, in Europe where many countries do not have a dialogue with Russia, of course, are possible, but this isn’t a proper political process for Europe, and it cannot be proper.”
Dmitry Peskov
“We will closely follow the news from Chisinau,” he remarked.
Russia is consistently critical of Moldova’s lean toward the West, stating that this presents security concerns and depicts the hegemonic intentions of the United States and its allies in the EU.
Last week, after the deployment of the EU Partnership Mission to Moldova, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Gazulin said that “the EU seeks to consolidate the pro-Western course pursued by the current leadership of Moldova (and) set up the country for confrontation with Russia, ignoring the interests and mood of the population.”
“The increase in cooperation between Chisinau and NATO and the EU in the military-political sphere, of course, cannot but cause us concern,” Gazulin noted in an interview.
