Dublin, Zurich, Athens, Baku, and Riga: Where Is the European Political Community Heading?

On November 12, Dublin will host the ninth summit of the European Political Community (EPC). Around 50 heads of state and government, alongside leaders from key European institutions, will gather under the banner of "a strong, secure, and connected Europe." But beneath this diplomatic slogan lies a much thornier question:can a forum that seats democracies next to authoritarian regimes be more than just a photo opportunity? Can it actually defend European values?

Beyond the Photo-Op: What the EPC Actually Is

The EPC isn't your traditional international organization. There’s no founding charter, no permanent secretariat, and no formal membership process. Born out of the geopolitical shock of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it operates as an intergovernmental sounding board for Europe's future. You don't "join" the EPC; you get invited by the host.

While its footprint overlaps heavily with the Council of Europe—all 46 CoE member states attend, plus Kosovo—the two serve very different purposes. The CoE is Europe’s oldest human rights watchdog, armed with the legal teeth of the European Court of Human Rights. The EPC, meanwhile, is strictly a political arena.

The Road from Dublin

The Dublin summit marks a massive diplomatic undertaking for Ireland. Notably, the guest list is expected to include Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Their presence alone turns the event into a real-time stress test for Europe’s consistency regarding human rights and the rule of law.

Looking ahead, the EPC’s itinerary is telling. From Dublin, the forum heads to Zurich in April 2027, followed by Greece later that year. By 2028, the center of gravity shifts east and south, with summits slated for Azerbaijan and Latvia.

This geographical hopscotch—Dublin, Zurich, Athens, Baku, Riga—highlights the EPC’s defining trait. It isn’t an exclusive club of like-minded democracies; it’s a space for continental dialogue. But this inclusivity is exactly why it desperately needs ground rules.

Losing the Rose-Tinted Glasses

The EPC was built for hard conversations. No one is naive enough to think that an invitation automatically turns a country into a beacon of free elections and independent courts. We’ve already seen summits hosted by governments with questionable democratic track records, from Budapest in 2024 to Tirana before that.

Engaging with difficult partners isn't a bad thing—in fact, diplomacy demands it. However, dialogue shouldn't double as a free pass for legitimization. Sitting at a European table should require at least a baseline respect for shared norms: freedom of expression, pluralism, judicial independence, and an end to political repression.

The Azerbaijan Dilemma

Within the EPC, Azerbaijan stands out as a glaring outlier. Major human rights watchdogs have exhaustively documented the country's severe crackdown on civil society. Council of Europe data paints a grim picture: out of 93 journalists imprisoned across the organization's 46 member states, 39 are sitting in Azerbaijani cells.That’s 42% of the total.

Add to this a dismal corruption ranking—130th out of 182 countries on Transparency International’s index—and a consistent failure to implement rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. Azerbaijan is increasingly resembling the hybrid regimes of Russia and Belarus (neither of which are invited to the EPC).This makes the upcoming 2028 summit in Baku an incredibly sensitive issue for European optics.

The Sanctions Loophole

The EPC was largely created to project a united front against Russian aggression. While Baku officially supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, its alliance with the West is strictly transactional.

Investigations suggest that Azerbaijani business structures have helped Russia bypass Western sanctions,utilizing a "shadow fleet" to move oil and allegedly laundering Russian gold. If true, this isn't neutrality—it's active participation in a system that keeps the Kremlin's war machine funded. You cannot separate European security from the question of who is exploiting its transport, financial, and trade corridors.

Making the Community Count

For Dublin's theme of a "strong, secure, and connected Europe" to be more than just a tagline, the continent’s security can't be measured purely by borders and energy grids. The EPC needs to draw some lines in the sand:

• Value-based benchmarks: An invitation should never equal an endorsement of a country's domestic model.

  
  

• Independent monitoring: The community needs to track press freedom, judicial independence,and political imprisonment among its participants.

  
  

• Legal compliance: For CoE members, respecting European Court of Human Rights rulings should be a non-negotiable condition for full participation in European formats.

  
  

• Real consequences: Chronic human rights violators shouldn't enjoy symbolic equality with functional democracies. The format of their engagement should reflect their domestic realities.

  
  

• Security and sanctions: You cannot be a European security partner if your logistics corridors are helping Russia dodge sanctions.

  
  

Dublin is a massive test. It’s not just about the logistics of hosting 50 leaders; it’s about Europe deciding the cost of its own openness. Talking to autocrats is a geopolitical necessity, but it must have boundaries.

If the EPC wants to evolve from a geographic meet-and-greet into a genuine political community, it has to prove that participation is a responsibility to shared norms, not just a geographic right. Otherwise, the road from Dublin to Riga will just be a series of dots on a map, rather than actual milestones in building a stronger Europe.