THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Towards a new legislative term

2022-2023: CONFEDERAL PROGRESS COMPATIBLE WITH FEDERAL DEEPENING 69 countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia). On 6th October 2022, a meeting was hosted in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, for 44 heads of State and Government from the democratic European countries, in what was considered the First Summit of the European Political Community. This new organisa- tion, which, is a flexible, agile alliance with no legal formality for the time being, will operate in a similar way to the G7 or G20 meetings. It comprises the 27 EU Member States, and the other 17 democratic Euro- pean countries, together encompassing over 700 million people. We are talking about all the countries on the continent of Europe except Russia and Belarus, not in- vited as they were not considered to be democratic, and the three micro–European States (Andorra, Monaco and San Marino) which were later admitted in the Moldova Summit. The first meeting of the EPC was held on 2nd Octo- ber in Prague during the Czech Presidency. The second was held in Mini, in Bulboaca (Moldova) and the third will be in Granada, thereby giving this confederal project continuity. The fourth is planned to be held in London, and the fifth will be in Serbia. This thereby provides a balance between summits held in EU Member States and non-member States. The United Kingdom was in two minds whether to take part in the Summit as it feared this might be a way of drawing it back into the European Union. This initiative was proposed by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in the session to deliver conclusions during the Conference on the Future of Europe, on 9th May 2022, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. At the time, we did not see the relevance of this announcement. However, we now have the im- pression that this encounter represented a decisive step as it united the European community project, or in other words, supra-national Europe with a confederal per- spective, as there are many common aspects to address between them. Thus far, they had been seen as two different worlds (community and confederal); now it is possible to see them as two compatible and even complementary paths which strengthen the internal project, on both sides, and that even make it possible to picture the strength of their unity on an international stage, as this presents a united Europe to the world, particularly in view of the crisis against the Russian Federation. Above all, it de- termines a common international outlook, even though they have two different ways of working. It is assumed that, among the 44 States which met in Prague, this political dialogue will be channelled through intergov- ernmental mechanisms. First Summit in Prague (2nd October 2022) This meeting was extremely important because, for the first time, all 44 leaders from countries on the continent of Europe were meeting at a top level summit, to es- tablish a political dialogue among the leaders of these countries and thereby address the most important topics and challenges affecting Europe as a whole, such as the Russian aggression against Ukraine and energy security and supply, among other topics included in the sessions held in early October. The main topics debated in the first session were infrastructure security, cybersecurity, energy and of course, the aggression against Ukraine, a theme which cut across the entire event. It should be highlighted that this was not a one-off Summit. It was devised as a further step in the new po- litical cycle which arose from European Parliament elec- tions in May 2019. In addition, due to the success of the response to the EU’s challenges, they have been taking federal steps. This initiative ties in European countries which are not part of the EU but that are open to work- ing together optimally in some areas. This is possible thanks to shared values, common in- terests and a similar world outlook, although separated by different decision-making methods. It suggests that this Summit is the start of a new phase of understanding between European States with two connections, federal and confederal, within a common intergovernmental or confederal framework; without limiting the European project in any way. Quite the contrary, it allows EU27 enlargement to include more members in the future, when appropriate. Furthermore, to achieve this first aspect, the federal process must be deepened: and, secondly, the European