Brussels – Another day, another summit in Copenhagen. In a heavily guarded Danish capital for fear of attacks by Russian drones from the sky, the European Political Community (EPC), the assembly of leaders from the Old Continent – excluding Russia and Belarus – who gather every six months to discuss the most pressing common challenges, met today (October 2) for the seventh time.
As in the previous session (the last one, held in Tirana in May), the table of heads of state and government from the 47 participating countries – all members of the EU, plus some 20 other European nations – featured two crucial, inextricably linked topics. The support for the aggrieved Ukraine on the one hand and, on the other, the defense and security of the Old Continent.
The host, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, opened the proceedings by defining the “important task” to which, she says, the chancelleries are being called upon to face: ‘We must make our common Europe so strong that a war against us becomes unthinkable, and we must do it now,” she stressed, flanked by the President of the European Council, António Costa, and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
The #EPC is the demonstration of a shared political will.
Those who are in the European Union, those who are not, those who wish to join, and even those who have left – together, we form Europe.
And together, we want to work for peace, development, and the prosperity of our… pic.twitter.com/5O1Dzd3rs3
– António Costa (@eucopresident) October 2, 2025
Frederiksen urged even countries more distant from the Federation – such as Giorgia Meloni‘s Italy, which expressed skepticism on the ‘drone wall‘ initiative that EU leaders proposed to protect its eastern borders – to seriously consider the existential threat posed by Moscow, made clear by the increasing number of violations of European airspace in recent weeks. “Russia is testing us more than ever,” she reiterated, listing the “hybrid attacks” conducted by the Kremlin, including through the instrumentalization of migrants and election interference campaigns.
She added that the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin “has never been about Ukraine alone, it is about Europe.” And “we have to move much faster,” she argues, to build “an incredible defense industry in just a couple of years” following the example of Kyiv. “Every euro, dollar, or Danish krone we send to Ukraine is a direct investment in European security,” she reasons. There were speeches along the same lines from, among others, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The Polish leader believes that a “new type of war, very complex,” is underway, unlike those of the past. However, he adds, “it is our war and if Ukraine loses, it means we have failed.” More optimistic is the occupant of the Élysée Palace, who claims the “rapprochement with the United States” as a success of the Coalition of the Willing, explicitly created to provide Kyiv with the security guarantees needed to maintain post-war stability.
From the EPC podium, Zelensky called for European allies to provide new military aid and urged the leaders of the Twelve-Star Club to expedite the 19th sanctions package (currently
being discussed by the Twenty-Seven member states) and to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. He also congratulated President Maia Sandu after her party’s recent victory in elections.
The Ukrainian president echoed Donald Trump‘s call to stop buying Russian oil, lashing out at Viktor Orbán’s Hungary in particular. But the Hungarian prime minister – who hopes to broaden the sovereignist front in the EU with thethe possible return to power of his ally Andrej Babiš in the Czech Republic – defended his autonomy in deciding on the national energy mix and put his foot down yet again on Kyiv’s entry into the Union, dismissing the proposal from Costa to revise the rules on the opening of negotiations with candidate countries, which would allow Brussels to circumvent Budapest’s veto.
On his part, the Hungarian Prime Minister highlighted the differences in approach among the participants regarding Moscow, arguing that EU leaders would develop a “war plan” rather than a peace plan. Together with his Belgian counterpart Bart De Wever, he led the opposition to the idea—supported by, among others, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and described by Orbán as “not very promising”—of using frozen Russian assets as collateral for reconstruction spending in support of Ukraine.
Other topics addressed by leaders today included economic security, competitiveness, and managing migration flows. On the practical side, as has long been evident, the EPC represents little more than a platform, a catwalk for leaders to discuss the most pressing common challenges. Lots of talk – not even too much, really, given the absence of one of the hottest topics of the day, namely the genocide perpetrated by Israel (as
certified by the UN) against the Palestinian people – and minimal concrete action.
