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Why a key summit in tiny Moldova could herald a new Europe

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Officials take picture of the entrance of the "Mimi Castle" which will host the European Political Community (EPC) Summit, in Bulboaca on May 31, 2023. On June 1, 2023 Moldova will hold its first major summit of wider Europe, bringing together leaders of all 27 EU countries with 20 of the bloc's neighbours. President Maia Sandu told AFP in an interview on Mai 18, 2023 that Moldova was seeking EU membership "as soon as possible" as protection against any threat from Russia. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)

The initial idea to create the EPC came from French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech to the European Parliament in May 2022.

PHOTO: AFP

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- The heads of 47 European states are gathering on Thursday in Moldova, a former Soviet republic neighbouring war-torn Ukraine, to lay the foundations of what they grandly refer to as the

European Political Community

(EPC).

There is no consensus on what the EPC should mean or what it should accomplish, and it remains, as some European diplomats politely like to say, “a work in progress”.

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