The group of more than 40 European leaders who travelled to Copenhagen this week left with a little gift: a packet of Lego sunflowers.
The summit was the latest gathering of a new talking shop, the European Political Community (EPC), which brings together leaders of the EU’s 27 states and their counterparts across the Continent.
French president Emmanuel Macron came up with the idea after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was seen as a way to make the EU tent feel a little less exclusive and to hopefully stop other European states drifting into the orbit of Moscow.
Many of the leaders leaving with their complimentary packs of Lego have their eye on a much more substantial prize: EU membership.
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Officials in Brussels recognise that the bloc is approaching a crossroads. If the union cannot get its own house in order and agree to take in new members, applicant countries carrying out reforms will lose faith in the process.
Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and perhaps most significantly Ukraine, are all pushing to join the bloc.
“The European Political Community summit is a great platform for the countries that are not part of the EU yet,” said Jakov Milatovic, president of Montenegro.
The small Balkan state of about 620,000 people is seen as having the best chance of joining, as its entry into the EU would not have any great impact on the bloc’s economy, single market or budget.
“Montenegro is a front-runner ... We do want to become the 28th member state of the EU by 2028,” Milatovic told reporters on Thursday.
Croatia was the last member in, joining the EU in 2013. Since then further enlargement has stalled. Privately some national diplomats say taking decisions as a 27-state bloc is hard enough, particularly on questions of foreign policy that need to be agreed unanimously. More members, more problems.
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The ability of one leader to hold up the entire accession process proves that point. Hungary’s far right prime minister Viktor Orban has used his national veto to prevent Ukraine’s bid from moving forward.
Kyiv started the years-long process to come into the EU fold after Russia’s invasion in early 2022. Orban said Ukraine’s entry would import the war into the EU.
Most other EU leaders, as well as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, are firm backers of Kyiv’s application. However, serious debate about how Ukraine would practically be integrated into the union has not really started.
A country of more than 35 million people, with a big agricultural base, would alter the balance of power in the EU during peacetime, never mind during a war.
The Danish government, which hosted the EPC summit, made sure there were several clear nods to Europe backing Ukraine in that fight.
Denmark’s no-nonsense prime minister Mette Frederiksen greeted European leaders in front of a huge blue and yellow banner showing a field of sunflowers, the symbol of Ukraine.
They kept up the motif throughout the day. Danish company Lego produced the special sunflower-themed toys for the visiting presidents and prime ministers.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to the EPC, having tuned in by video link to address a meeting of EU leaders in the Danish capital the day before to discuss the war.
Zelenskiy confirmed he was talking to US president Donald Trump about lifting restrictions on using US-made long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia.
Trump has seesawed between echoing Putin’s talking points to expressing frustration at the Russian leader. Keeping the US president onside has taken up huge amounts of Europe’s political and diplomatic energies over recent months.
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The stakes are high. Leaders fear a worse-case scenario where Trump pulls US support to Ukraine. They are also afraid he might pressure Ukraine into a peace deal on terms that favour Russia, undermining Europe’s security.
Set against that backdrop the question of Ukraine’s possible future EU membership seems less immediate, but it is no less important.
António Costa, the former Portuguese prime minister who chairs the summits of EU leaders, floated a possible way around Orban this week. Paradoxically, the Hungarian had power to veto the proposal.
Costa suggested changing the rules to require only a majority of EU states to open accession negotiations on different topics. There would still need to be unanimous agreement by the 27 capitals to deem the various reforms completed.
It is understood Orban, predictably unwilling to give up his veto, told EU leaders he would oppose any change.
That leaves the accession path for Ukraine blocked indefinitely, something that will fuel niggling doubts of other would-be member states about whether the EU can deliver on its end of the deal after all the talking is done.
Speaking at the end of the summit, Frederiksen said expanding the EU was part of a strategy to make Europe “as strong as possible”.
She said Orban should not be allowed to decide big questions about Europe’s future against the will of the other 26 member states.
Albania’s colourful prime minister Edi Rama said his country was not sitting around waiting. “We will be ready very soon ... It’s up to the big guys in the room to not wait any more and to embrace us and bring us in.”
