They say that a week is a long time in politics, and the time since the European Political Community (EPC) was established in October 2022, may now seem like an eternity. The war in Ukraine, that triggered the establishment of the EPC, drags on, and continues to define Europe. Everything else has changed. When the EPC was established, many yawned, and saw it as yet another useless talking shop. But the idea of creating a framework that brings the 27 EU member states with other European countries – 20 at the last meeting – has increasing value. The attendance of the leaders of these 20 countries: Turkiye’s Erdogan, Ukraine’s Zelensky, UK’s Starmer, and others, has made its twice yearly meetings an important occasion. It is in one area: defence and security, where the biggest need of Europe currently is, and where the biggest potential of the EPC lays. The war in Ukraine, Russia’s malign intentions, and Trump’s reset of US foreign and security policy, focused minds. Europe had been sleeping! When it woke up it did what the EU does whenever it is faced with a problem, it threw money at it, and started a defence spending spree, that was overdue, but is not by itself enough. The EU27 may be a global economic force, but on their own they lack strategic clout. But if you add with them the other European countries such as Turkiye, UK, Ukraine, and even smaller ones such as Norway and Switzerland, it becomes a completely different preposition. Under the surface, these discussions are going on even more intensively. But the European Political Community offers a space for conversations – public and private between the leaders of wider Europe. The value of the Community is therefore significant. The next EPC summit will be in Armenia on 4 May 2026. It will be important for a number of reasons: It will be a summit that should contribute to Armenia-Azerbaijan peace; it is not clear at what level will Azerbaijan participate, but for sure this will be a high level delegation. It will be the first EPC summit in Russia’s back yard – Armenia is still a member of the EAEU, and even if only on paper, of CSTO. The summit will take place on the eve of crucial parliamentary elections in Armenia that will determine the fate of the country and the region. But in the background will be the issue of how wider Europe can work together on defence and security. This will take time – probably not less than a decade – but the work has started, and the EPC summit in Armenia will contribute to it. (click the image above to read the full Monday Commentary).

Dr. Njeri is a peace and conflict scholar and mine action activist whose work sits at the intersection of humanitarian practice, critical theory, and policy reform. In closing off a successful first month of commonspace.eu’s Thursday Interview series, she reflects on how lived experience in humanitarian action has shaped her scholarship, how hierarchies within knowledge production shape peace-building practice, and what mine action, the work of clearing landmines and other Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), reveals about power and politics on the ground. Dr. Njeri was instrumental in the success of LINKS Europe’s Bonn Contact Group on Climate, Peace and Security, where she co-authored a report on the nexus between climate change and land contamination and degradation resulting from the remnants of armed conflict. Read “Land degradation: The ‘double exposure’ of ERW contamination and climate change” by Dr. Sarah Njeri and Dr. Christina Greene. “Across contexts like Somaliland, Iraq, Ukraine, and the South Caucasus, the core barriers to translating evidence into mine action policy are less about ‘missing data’ and more about politics, incentives, and entrenched governance structures”. (Read the full interview by clicking the image above)