Granada brings together fifty European leaders this Thursday within the framework of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU to reaffirm collaboration in the face of global challenges and try to help the continent strengthen its leadership in the world. This is the third summit of the European Political Community, in which the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, acts as host two days after receiving the king’s order to attempt his investiture.

A summit that, except for some absences, brings together the leaders of the EU and those of other 17 European countries and that precedes another that the following day will star exclusively the heads of State or Government of the Twenty-Seven. The two days constitute the main milestone of the Spanish presidency of the Council, according to the Government, which hopes that they will serve as a turning point to design the Europe of the future.

The European Political Community It is a forum that was born last year at the impulse of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the one in Granada is their third meeting after those held in the Czech Republic and Moldova. Its objective is to be a forum for dialogue to discuss issues of common interest and that takes on special prominence in situations such as those derived from the war in Ukraine, a country that is part of this group but whose presence at this meeting has not been confirmed. President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kosovo, a territory that Spain and four other EU countries do not recognize as a country, will also be represented as in the two previous meetings. Throughout the day there will be three round tables in which European leaders will be divided, one of them on digitalization, with special attention to artificial intelligence, the second on energy and the third on multilateralism.

It will be in the latter that Sánchez participates, who also plans to take advantage of the day to hold a series of bilateral meetings. In addition, at the end of the summit, he will star in a joint appearance with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak (since his country will host the next meeting of this community) and Maia Sandu, president of Moldova (which hosted the last one held so far).

Among those absent from Grenada is the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who this Wednesday canceled his trip andTherefore, he will not hold the meeting that was scheduled with the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinián, who will be present at the summit.

That meeting was predicted to be the first step to end more than 30 years of conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis with the mediation of the European Union and the leaders of France and Germany, and the cancellation of the trip was announced after the growing tensions of the recent days, which includes the death of an Armenian soldier in a border incident. After the summit, the kings will receive the European leaders at the Alhambra and they will later offer them a dinner.