Prime Minister Liz Truss has signed up to attend the first meeting of the Emmanuel Macron-driven “European Political Community”, feared by some to be an extension of the European Union.
“We must unite our Europe in the truth of its geography with the desire to preserve the unity of our continent,” the French leader had said when proposing his ‘European Political Community’ in June. The organisation was described in French proposal documents as “a coordination political platform for European countries across the continent.”
It was envisioned that the likes of Ukraine could be incorporated into such a body without the obligations granting full EU membership brings — Free Movement migration and access to shared structural funds, for example — but the potential participation of Britain was controversial, given the British people’s vote for national independence over European “coordination” and “unity” in 2016.
It is now confirmed that Prime Minister Liz Truss, who campaigned against Brexit in 2016 and voted for Theresa May’s failed Brexit-in-name-only deal three times in the House of Commons, has indeed signed up to the European Political Community’s inaugural meeting in the Czech Republic, however.
Truss had denied the British government would participate in the European Political Community, which will be organised by EU institutions at the October 6th summit in Prague, as recently as June, when she was still Foreign Secretary — not least because intergovernmental forums such as the G7, NATO, and the Council of Europe are already available for “coordination”.
The Telegraph, which is close to Britain’s governing Conservative (Tory) Party, reports their sources as saying that Truss “agreed to attend on the basis that migration is properly addressed, the EU plays a less significant role in the future and the next host is not a member of the [European Union].”
Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Georgia, the practically warring states of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Balkan states, and, curiously, Israel and Turkey — which are not really European countries — are also reported to be attending, with the British said to be pressing for some sort of Ukrainian involvement as well.
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