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EU leaders weigh summit invite for UK’s Liz Truss

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European leaders are mulling a delicate issue: Whether to invite new British Prime Minister Liz Truss — among other non-EU leaders — to a summit in Prague next month.

Since taking over in London this week from Boris Johnson, Truss has not yet had a call with European Council President Charles Michel or European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen, but senior European officials are currently discussing an invite to the October 6 summit in the Czech capital.

A senior European Council official briefed EU ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday regarding plans to invite a number of non-EU leaders, including Truss, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The meeting would be the first informal gathering of European leaders under the auspices of the European Political Community — an idea for a broader coalition of countries, first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in a speech in Strasbourg in May and supported by the European Council President Charles Michel. 

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Invitations will be sent out “soon,” an official said.

Though the EU gave Ukraine the green light to start accession talks in June, it is unclear if Zelenskyy will attend the meeting in person, given that he has not left Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

Some member countries — not least Greece — are expected to raise objections to Erdoğan being invited, despite Turkey casting itself as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia in the war. 

But it is the stance on Truss that will be most closely watched in Brussels, given Britain’s decision to leave the EU and the ongoing wrangling over post-Brexit relations between Britain and the bloc.

A potential showdown is brewing between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit agreement that deals with Northern Irish trade arrangements. Britain is facing a September 15 deadline by which it must reply to infringement procedures launched by the Commission earlier this summer. 

Among the countries that the Council expects to invite to the gathering in Prague are the six Western Balkans countries, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the U.K., Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Link to original article on https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-weigh-summit-invite-for-liz-truss/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

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