This will be a message of unity at the two-day EU consultations in Granada: a political fist bump against Putin and a helping hand to countries seeking to join the EU. But it ended in disruption and black Petes: host Pedro Sánchez canceled the final press conference.
Nevertheless, things started promisingly on Thursday morning. At the sun-drenched Palacio de Congresos, the leaders of the European Political Community – the EU-27, plus surrounding countries – delivered beautiful statements. Sánchez praised Granada as ‘the capital of Europe, the capital of peace’. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called maintaining unity under pressure from Russian missile bombings and disinformation the biggest challenge for Europe.
Four working groups were created for leaders, including on digitalization, AI and society’s transition to sustainable energy. But British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also wants to talk about migration. The boats carrying migrants daring to cross the Channel are causing him further political headaches at home.
However, migration was not on Thursday’s agenda, but rather on Friday when EU leaders meet. However, since the UK left the EU on January 31 2020, London is no longer included in it.
Unusual key
Sunak was so irritated by Sánchez’s reluctance to tackle migration that he announced he would not attend the planned lockdown press conference. Annoying that Sunak is hosting the next meeting of the European Political Community in London. And the agreement was that the previous chairman, the current chairman and the new chairman would hold a press conference together.
What followed was a blame game with Sánchez and Sunak accusing each other of obstruction. In the end, the Spanish Prime Minister decided without further explanation to cancel the press conference at the last minute – five minutes before it was scheduled to start. A very unusual end to a meeting decorated with so much flag waving.
Afterwards, Sunak spoke about migration, along with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The five countries pledged to tackle irregular migration more vigorously.
About the Author
Marc Peeperkorn has been an EU correspondent since 2008 de Volkskrant. He lives and works in Brussels.
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