So with the exception of the Italian and French language speakers, those were the opening statements for this fourth council of Europe.
Obviously Ukraine was mentioned a lot throughout, and it is clear that the council wants to come up with concrete measures in that area. It will be interesting to see how it will differ in the approach that the European Union takes (i.e. delivering weapons to Ukraine, sanctioning Russia etc.), and whether it can deliver on its founding promise of securing peace and freedom in Europe.
Now that I was reading it back, I found British PM Sunak’s speech honestly weird. He talked a bit about how ‘Britain left the EU but not Europe’ and what crucial role it played for the Ukraine war (presumably he is referring to how Boris Johnson sabotaged the peace talks that were taking place early on, which were brokered by Turkey, but I could be wrong). The fact that he kept talking about immigration and the need to summarise it with ‘stop the boats’ was especially bizarre.
Note: I am linking to the previous Note in each of these Notes, so you can click through them and read them all in descending chronological order. Alternatively, visit my profile.
