At ten past eleven on Thursday morning, Volodymyr Zelensky walks across the blue carpet at the congress center in Granada, wearing an olive green shirt jacket and cargo pants, his voice rough, his wrinkles deep. As he squints into the Andalusian October sun in front of the cameras, the Ukrainian president reminds everyone again what war fatigue looks like after 588 days. At the time, he did not know anything about Russia’s missile attack on a shopping center in Kharkiv that day, which would kill more than 50 people. “Our biggest challenge is to maintain unity in Europe,” he says. This sets the tone for this meeting, which is suddenly taking place not only under the impression of the Russian attack, but also under the sign of other conflicts that are flaring up again on the edges of the EU – a crisis summit.
After conferences in Prague and the Moldovan capital Chişinău, the European Political Community (EPG), an association of 47 states including all EU countries, met for the third time in Granada on Thursday. A community, founded based on an idea by French President Emmanuel Macron, which is intended to be a discussion forum for all of Europe, including Great Britain, Switzerland and Norway, with the Western Balkan states and the Caucasus republics, with Ukraine, i.e. with all those who will become part of it at some point the EU could become. Behind this is “the idea that the European continent can – and must – shape its own future,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Talks in Granada were intended to ease the situation, but they did not materialize
However, there was hardly any creative energy or desire to create things on site, and there was hardly any space for Europe to reassure itself as a unity and geostrategic power. The annexation of the Armenian province of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan overshadowed the summit meeting, as did the new tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, triggered by an attack by Serbian paramilitaries on Kosovo police forces and a deployment of Serbian forces on the border.
In both cases, EU representatives avoid scaring the aggressors. The EU classified the incident in Kosovo as an act of terrorism and condemned Azerbaijan’s actions. There are no prospects of sanctions against either country. While they don’t want to drive Serbia further into the arms of Russia, they need Azerbaijan as a natural gas supplier. Von der Leyen announced in Granada that humanitarian aid for Armenia would be doubled to 10.4 million euros.
The hope that discussions on site could ease the situation was not fulfilled. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev canceled his participation at short notice. He was quoted as saying that he would not come because of the “anti-Azerbaijani sentiment” of some summit participants. In the afternoon, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron, EU Council President Charles Michel and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met for a four-way discussion. In a statement, they emphasized “their unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of Armenia’s borders.”
Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani made sanctions against Serbia a condition for even talking to its President Aleksandar Vučić. Kosovo, a former Serbian province, declared itself independent after a war in 2008, which Serbia does not recognize. “By threatening Kosovo, they have put the entire European continent at risk,” said Osmani. The EPG is something “for like-minded countries that believe in peace, that believe in stability and that defend European values,” said Osmani. “Unfortunately, Serbia is not one of these.”
Last but not least, shaky US support for Ukraine was a cause for concern: the interim financing agreed on Saturday in the US budget dispute does not contain any help for Ukraine. US President Joe Biden recently assured his Western partners that he would continue his course on Ukraine. With this in mind, Scholz said he was “very confident”.
The fact that the EU does not even manage to speak with one voice on some of the most important issues only became clear again on Wednesday, when the Commission publicly and unusually harshly criticized Council President Michel. He had previously repeated his controversial statement that Ukraine could join the EU as early as 2030.
On Thursday it was Zelensky who most powerfully invoked European unity. “Europe has truly proven that it is a global center for the protection of human freedom and international law,” he said in a speech. “It has its own potential to be strong.” A potential – that means: It is still too weak on its own.