A meeting under the sign of unity against Russia. Fifty European leaders will meet on Thursday 1 June in Moldova for the second summit of the European Political Community (EPC), after a first edition in Prague in October 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Thursday morning in this small country bordering Ukraine that also lives in fear of Russia. European leaders are meeting just 20 kilometers from Ukraine to send a message of support to these two former Soviet republics, as a new air attack hit Kiev overnight, killing at least three people, including a child.

"I am happy to be here," said the Ukrainian president in front of the cameras, before thanking the Moldovan people "for having welcomed many refugees since the first day of the war".

The heads of state and government of 47 states were invited to Mimi Castle, a winery in the village of Bulboaca, 35 kilometers from the capital Chisinau. "We will reconfirm our support for Ukraine, which is resisting Russian aggression," Moldovan President Maia Sandu stressed.

As in its first edition, EPC will give rise to a "family photo". This time the meeting has a notable absentee: Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan, re-elected on Sunday.

Taken in this village near Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region of 300,000 inhabitants in the east of the country, it will highlight the isolation of Vladimir Putin.

A much larger gathering than that of the EU (20 invited countries in addition to the 27 members of the bloc), EPC is an informal body imagined by French President Emmanuel Macron. It brings together countries with very different profiles and backgrounds: Armenia, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Serbia, Azerbaijan...

The issue of Moldova and Ukraine's EU membership on the agenda

For Moldova, this is an opportunity to reiterate its impatience to join the EU. "Moldova's place is in the European Union," Maia Sandu said on Wednesday.

She received a message of encouragement from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who praised the country's "enormous progress" in its reforms.

The question of accession is also an urgent issue for Ukraine, which is partly occupied by Russian troops. It obtained the status of official candidate at the same time as Moldova, in June 2022. But there is still a long way to go.

Emmanuel Macron called on the EU to rethink its governance and "invent several formats" to meet these aspirations.

The leaders are also expected to discuss Ukraine's security on Thursday as NATO foreign ministers gather in Oslo to respond to Kiev's request to join the Atlantic Alliance.

EPC will provide an opportunity for some bilateral or restricted discussions between leaders.

Discussions on the situation in Kosovo and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

It could help ease tensions in northern Kosovo, where violence erupted last weekend between police and Serb protesters.

The French president is due to meet on Thursday, along with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Kosovar president and the Serbian president in two separate meetings. He pinned Wednesday "the responsibility of the Kosovar authorities" after the clashes that left 30 wounded among the soldiers of the NATO force.

>> READ ALSO: Northern Kosovo: what you need to know about tensions between Serbs and Kosovars

Serbs boycotted the April municipal elections in four localities, resulting in the election of Albanian mayors with a turnout of less than 3.5%. Their inauguration last week by the Kosovar government set fire to the powder.

In addition, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, in the middle of negotiations to end their conflict, are also due to meet under the aegis of Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

Yerevan and Baku have been fighting for decades for control of Azerbaijan's predominantly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region. Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have intensified and appear to have made progress in recent weeks, led by the EU and the US.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had already met at the first summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Prague.

With AFP

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