Only Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will not be attending Thursday’s European summit in Prague. Štěpán Černý, Deputy Director of the European Affairs Section of the Government Office, said on Thursday.
“All those we have invited will come. The only exception is the Danish prime minister, who cannot come for internal political reasons that we do not need to comment on,” Černý said. “It is not because she does not want to come, but because something prevents her from coming, which is simply also of the nature of a higher power,” he added without further details.
In this context, for example, Danish and Swedish authorities reported leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that run along the Baltic Sea bed from Russia to Germany last week. According to the EU and politicians from individual European countries, deliberate attacks are behind the damage to the pipelines.
The Prime Minister will come on behalf of Ukraine.
Černý did not want to specify the order in which the countries’ leaders would arrive in the Czech Republic for the summit. “Also, for security reasons, this information will probably not be known until Thursday,” he said.
Ukraine, which has been under Russian attack since late February, will be represented at the summit by Prime Minister Denys Šmyhal, according to Černý. Representatives of Russia or Belarus, which supports the Russian invasion, were not invited.
According to Černý, approximately 2,500 foreign visitors will arrive. Half are accredited journalists from around the world. The deputy advised Prague residents to limit their movements along Europe Street on Thursday morning and possibly as early as Wednesday evening, as motorcades carrying politicians with police escorts will be moving along the street.
“But Prague as such will not be closed in any way. We are closing, in quotation marks, only the Prague Castle area. Even the immediate surroundings of Hradčany should not be restricted from a police point of view,” he said.
The new European Political Community (EPC) platform will meet for the first time on Thursday. The broader format of the EPC is intended to serve the political coordination of European countries, not just EU member states. The aim is to promote political dialogue and cooperation on issues of common interest to enhance Europe’s security, stability, and prosperity. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the creation of the platform in May.