EPC in Moldova: Outcomes and Analysis

Taking a look back at Moldova's hosting of the EPC Summit June 1st

EPC Coverage from Moldova Matters: On Thursday June 1st we covered the European Political Community EPC Summit from the event itself at Castel Mimi in the village of Bulboaca Moldova. Today we’ll conclude our series of articles on this seminal event for Moldova with an overview of the outcomes and some analysis of the summit itself. To read our previous coverages see the pre-Summit Weekly Roundup and our updates one, two, three, four, five, six and seven from the summit itself. Since the summit has been all consuming in terms of Moldovan news this past week we will consider this the Weekly Roundup and be back next week with a standard Weekly Roundup article.

The EPC in Bulboaca - A Triumph for Moldova

The June 1st summit of the European Political Community in Moldova can easily be called the most successful diplomatic and public relations event in the country’s modern history. The results of such an event are both tangible and intangible. As a host, Moldova received promises of concrete support both in light of the war and in the service of accelerating the nation’s European ambitions. At the same time, the most impactful outcome of the summit is likely to be intangible. Moldova presented itself as a highly competent host of such a large event and as a nation showed itself to a beautiful European country with much to offer.

Speaking after the event Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu summed this up saying:

“The heart of Europe beat in Bulboaca. Almost 50 heads of European states and governments were impressed by our society and culture…They also liked our wine, nature, hills, vineyards, Mimi castle, Chisinau and people. This is a huge success, and it is not only symbolic. This is a success that convinces many countries that Moldova deserves to be in the EU,”

If anything he may have undersold the impact. Of the 700 journalists present numerous people told me that they had not seen a summit so well organized in the past. Many commented on the attention and care provided to journalists themselves who were treated as participants of a sort rather than hangers on. Foreign press not only got access to many officials for interviews and discussions but also sampled Moldovan foods and wines and were able see Chisinau at its best (not least because there was no traffic). Very few world leaders, members of delegations or journalists that attended had ever been to Moldova before and most seem to have left with a highly positive impression of the country. For much of Moldova’s modern history, stories in the international press have been written by journalists who have not personally been to the country and have focused largely on problems - corruption, massive bank thefts, crisis and war. This event presented Moldova as a small but welcoming European nation with much to offer. It is hard to overstate the importance of this narrative change to the Moldovan government and Moldovan citizens. The residents of the town of Bulboaca, host of the summit, were interviewed in the days following and spoke of the pride and hope that this event brought to their small town.

Image Source Moldovan Presidential Administration

Concrete Outcomes for Moldova

In addition to the organizational and reputational success of the summit, Moldovan leaders got multiple concrete promises of support from various leaders. Some had been promised in advance and were reiterated, others were new. Here is a short list of some of the most important.

• Mobile phone Roaming - Tariffs between Moldova and the EU will be reduced starting in January 2024 on a path to aligning with EU roaming roles.

• Financial Support - The EU announced that it would triple their macro financial assistance to Moldova. The country will also be able to access EU member infrastructure funds which can provide grants of up to 1/2 of the cost of a project. The Minister of Infrastructure noted that these later funds will primarily be used for transit infrastructure including rail links, road construction and maintenance and construction of bridges across the Prut river.

• Security Assistance - Right before the summit, the Moldovan army received non-lethal equipment bought with support of the European Peace Fund worth 7 million euros. This was called “only the beginning” with more aid expected by the end of the year. At the same time Poland delivered six C130 planes worth of weapons and ammunition that were donated to the Moldovan police. Finally, the EU launched their Civil Mission to Moldova the evening before the summit which will support the government’s efforts to counter disinformation and strengthen cybersecurity.

• Bilateral pledges of support - Multiple countries offered bilateral financial or technical support to Moldova during the summit. In one example UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the provision of 10.5 million GBP in support of Moldova’s efforts to host Ukrainian refugees. The Prime Minister stated:

“As the first British Prime Minister to visit Moldova, I am delighted to announce a support package for Moldova in the face of Russian aggression. Moldova is not alone,”

• Sanctions - Running up to the summit the EU announced a set of sanctions on individuals and groups that “seek to destabilize Moldova.” On the day of the summit Norway confirmed that they would join these sanctions and Canada made a surprise announcement of their own sanctions list. While Canada is not a member of the EPC it seems clear that the announcement was timed to send a clear signal of support for Moldova. In addition to Ilan Shor, Plahotniuc and the Shor Party, Canada become the first country to sanction Veaceslav Platon. We will discuss the significance of this in a future article.

• EU Ascension Negotiations - While no firm timeline for negotiations was announced, President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and other leaders at the EPC voiced strong support for Moldova beginning ascension negotiations this year. Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu spoke on this topic saying:

“Our goal is to convince the European Commission and then every state of the European Union before the end of this year that Moldova deserves to start EU accession negotiations. In terms of timing, the main stages of this process fall on October, when the European Commission will publish a report on the implementation of its recommendations by our country, in which it will assess our progress,”

Taken individually, none of these promises and outcomes is a game changer for Moldova. The country continues to experience very significant challenges caused by the war and is struggling to deliver on the promises of reform. What these outcomes do mean is that Moldova is less isolated and more part of a greater European family than ever before. It will be up to the government to utilize the support and resources they are now able to access to deliver on the European aspirations of Moldovan citizens.

What did the EPC mean for Europe?

While Moldova Matters typically views the news through the lens of how it impacts Moldova directly, it is important to step back and understand what the EPC meant more broadly. When French President Emmanuel Macron first put forward the initiative to create a European Political Community he did not initially find many willing supporters. EU countries criticized it as something that was unnecessary because of existing EU structures. Non-EU countries worried that the EPC would be a kinda of half-way stop on the way to the EU where they might get stuck. Following the first EPC summit in Prague many leaders and commenters debated what, if anything, was the EPC about?

Last week we got a much stronger feel for what the EPC could be and what role these summits will likely play going forward.

One Message - Solidarity

All speakers at the summit stressed solidarity between European nations. This represented more than just words but various diplomatic actions designed to bridge real gaps that have existed in Europe to date.

Firstly, the EPC has sought to be a bridge between the EU member states and the European non-EU members. This is most clearly highlighted by the choice to hold 2 summits yearly, one hosted by an EU member and one hosted by a non-EU member. Moldova’s success as the first non-EU host has strengthened this idea and clearly highlighted that even at a location 10 kilometers from the nearest Russian army units in Transnistria, Europe can come together and discuss peace and cooperation.

Secondly, the choice of speakers at the EPC Plenary meeting was very telling.

• President Maia Sandu of Moldova (host)

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine

• Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy

• Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands

• President Klaus Iohannis of Romania

The selection of President Sandu to open the plenary and President Zelenskyy to speak after her, followed fairly clearly from world circumstances. Officially the choice of the 3 other speakers was taken at random from among those who had not addressed the plenary at the First EPC summit in Prague last year. With that said, nothing about this list of speakers appears “random” and most likely it was coordinated to stress the main message of the event - Solidarity.

Collectively President’s Sandu, Zelenskyy and Iohannis represented Eastern Europe. Moldova and Ukraine representing aspiring EU nations and Romania a country that has already successfully joined. Prime Ministers Meloni and Rutte represented Western European nations and their traditional divide, South and North respectively. Taken together we had 5 speakers representing East, West, North and South of the continent, as well as EU and non-EU members. Critically, all speakers, including those from *very* different political backgrounds such as Prime Ministers Meloni and Rutte presented very strong positions on the need to restore peace in Europe by helping Ukraine win this war.

Image source Moldovan Presidential Administration

This does not mean that all leaders at the summit agreed with these speeches and there was no official communique by design. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in particular was conspicuous for saying nothing to the press and seemingly being a bit isolated from other leaders during the official parts of the event. Somewhat comically he tried to kiss President Sandu on the hand when he arrived only to find that this was not in fact the appropriate way to greet a President (the video is worth a watch). But the summit did show a community, or even family of nations as organizers called it multiple times, united in solidarity with their fellow countries and united in opposition of Russia’s war.

Notably Absent from the Summit…

While much was written about the unexplained last minute cancelation by Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, the bigger absence at the summit was in a strange sense the United States. Press coverage of major summits often focuses on the role of the US and evaluates outcomes on how successfully the US President could lead (or not) on a set of issues. The EPC as a European institution really does emphasize the need and ability of the continent to focus on important issues without the US in the room. Ukraine pressed for F16s and additional Patriot batteries at the summit with various nations voicing support and concrete steps. Bilateral and small group meetings were held on the situation in Kosovo and on resolving the war between Armenia and Azerbaijani. The feel at the summit was one of European confidence and the EPC format allowed for lots of various types of diplomacy to occur around shared challenges.

In covering the summit there were a number of US journalists in attendance but they were vastly outnumbered by their European counterparts. This was reflected in the fact that almost no major US news outlet gave much coverage to the summit at all. Perhaps this was because of the relatively few concrete statements and outcomes that are guaranteed by the informal design of the EPC. Perhaps it is because it wasn’t clear to many in the US what, if any, purpose the EPC had. Whatever the reason, the EPC summit showed that Europe does not always need the US in the room to discuss various security challenges. Most likely this is an outcome that many in the US government welcome.

Conclusions

Organizing and hosting the EPC summit took a big team effort. Moldovan officials took the lead in managing the largest political and diplomatic event in the nation’s history. Many EU governments supported this effort hugely with security, communications, financial and other structural support. The US even had some small but significant appearances when MediaCor and ArtCor, new facilities supported by USAID, were used for welcoming journalists and Chisinau based press organization. In the end it took quite a lot to pull off what was clearly a hugely successful summit for Moldova. In a sense that was the point - Moldova has partners and friends that are ready and willing to help. “Moldova is not alone.”