More than 40 European leaders stage their support for Ukraine and isolation of Russia

PRAGUE, Oct. 6 (from the special envoys of EUROPA PRESS, Laura García Martínez and Leyre Guijo) -

More than 40 European leaders have gathered this Thursday in Prague to stage their commitment to the "peace and security" of the continent, their firm support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion and the international isolation of Vladimir Putin's regime , the only president along with the Belarusian who have not been invited to the new 'European Political Community'.

"The entire European continent is here except for two countries, Russia and Belarus, which shows how isolated they are," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told the press upon arrival at the first meeting of the new dialogue platform. that the European Union has wanted to separate from its own project and emphasize that it is a strategic alliance for the entire continent.

"I am not against other countries joining as long as they respect the same values," he continued, to stress that this is the reason why neither Russia nor Belarus have been invited.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressed, for his part, that those gathered "share the same continent and face the same challenges: stability, security, energy and migration". In this way, he has pointed out that the meeting in Prague is a "first sign" of the commitment to cooperation and that it will serve to "deepen the substance".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that all attendees "know that the Russian attack on Ukraine is a brutal violation of the peace and security order that we had in Europe in recent decades."

In this sense, he considered "important" that the Prague meeting shows that "we do not accept that part of the neighboring country be annexed", while making it clear that it is not about "creating a new institution with administration and bureaucracy".

With some skepticism, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, has pointed out that "it is not a new idea, it is very old", but that it resurfaces "when there are times of crisis", for this reason he has hoped that it will not be necessary to wait for that a new crisis occurs to call the next meeting and the importance of the format is understood.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, in turn, celebrated being able to attend on behalf of her country and participate "on an equal footing" in important debates for Europeans and participate in future actions that may emanate from the European Political Community, since his country is not recognized by five member states, including Spain.

The Lithuanian prime minister, Gitanas Nauseda, has emphasized that in the war in Ukraine "the fate of Europe is at stake" and that "the more countries understand this, the faster Russia's aggression will stop".

From the meeting, he said upon his arrival, a "position will emerge to condemn Russia's war, support for Ukraine with all kinds of means - military, economic and financial", as well as seek a "solution for the energy market" in the European Union, which needs to be more resilient and further diversify its sources of supply.

The Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir, has celebrated that EU and non-EU countries meet and "talk about the future of Europe" and show their unity against the invasion of Ukraine

At the beginning of the formal meeting, the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, stressed that everyone present knows that "Ukraine will win" but until this happens, he will need support from all of them.

"Our task today is to create an informal platform among all democratic countries in Europe where we can cooperate, share ideas and develop solutions to bring prosperity and peace back to our continent," he summarized.