Diplomatic successes failed to materialize in Granada – Berset still draws a positive conclusion Only one European country beats Switzerland – the ten highest countries in the world

The third meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Granada was marked by several conflicts. There was no political mediation between the conflicting states. Nevertheless, Federal President Alain Berset views the summit as positive.

The situation on the European continent has changed in recent years. “It has become more unstable,” the federal president told the media on Thursday after the meeting in southern Spain. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is a central issue for all of Europe.

Upon his arrival in Granada, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on other European states to show unity against the aggressor Russia.

Support for Ukraine has crumbled in recent months. Zelenskyj called for an air defense umbrella because the Ukrainian expected new missile and drone attacks from Russia in the winter.

No diplomatic successes

For Berset it is clear that you cannot expect problems to be solved from a format such as the European Political Community (EPC).

Berset still did not want to know about the failure of the summit. To find solutions we need the political will to sit down at the table and talk to each other. Then a platform like the EPC is useful. And that is exactly what “legitimizes this format”, according to the Federal Council.

It was originally hoped that something could be achieved diplomatically between Serbia and Kosovo on the sidelines of the summit. But at the summit, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani called for sanctions against Serbia before her country was ready to talk. An attack by Serbian paramilitaries on Kosovo police officers in late September escalated the situation between the two states again.

A stable situation in the Balkans is important for Switzerland, Berset said, pointing, among other things, to the large Serbian and Albanian diaspora in Switzerland. That is why he has spoken with both Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in recent weeks.

There was also no diplomatic progress at the summit in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev announced his participation at short notice, as did Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally of Aliyev. As a result, a planned meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not take place.

The Azerbaijani president justified his rejection with statements from France about deliveries of arms and ammunition to Armenia and about military cooperation.

After a military defeat by Azerbaijan at the end of September, more than 100,000 Armenians have fled to Armenia from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area in the South Caucasus in recent days.

On the sidelines of the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the previous EU amount of 5.2 million euros for humanitarian aid would be increased to 10.4 million euros. In addition, 15 million euros in emergency aid must flow to the Armenian budget. For its part, Switzerland also wants to focus on humanitarian aid, according to Berset.

Informal contacts have been maintained

According to the Federal President, the summit meetings are important for Switzerland to maintain informal contacts. You never know whether a contact will suddenly turn out to be ‘very important’ in five years’ time.

Accordingly, Berset exchanged ideas with numerous heads of state and government. He had official bilateral meetings with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, President of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Berset also co-chaired a roundtable on multilateralism with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In total, approximately 45 heads of state and government participated in the summit. They discussed topics of pan-European interest. The meeting takes place every six months, alternately in an EU member state and then in a non-EU country. Organizing such a meeting would also be interesting for Switzerland, Berset said.

(hah/sda)