Participation Landscape of the 8th European Political Community Summit in Yerevan

Nearly 50 international delegations took part in the 8th summit of the European Political Community (EPC), held in Yerevan on May 4, 2026, with the majority led by heads of state or government.

The EPC summit format was first launched in 2022 in response to the new security environment in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The platform was designed to bring together both EU member states and other partner countries interested in European security to discuss key agenda items, including security, the energy crisis, and political and economic cooperation.

The Union of Informed Citizens has compiled data on the composition of delegations and the participation of national leaders at the Yerevan summit and previous EPC gatherings.

Participation of National Leaders at Previous Summits

At the first EPC summit, held in Prague in 2022, 44 delegations were led by heads of state or government, alongside the leaders of European Union institutions.

The following two summits, hosted in Moldova and Spain in 2023, recorded the highest level of participation by national leaders, with 45 heads of state or government attending each event.

The lowest level of participation by national leaders was recorded at the Yerevan summit.

The infographic below presents the number of participating leaders at each EPC summit.

As noted above, nearly 50 delegations attended the 8th EPC summit in Yerevan. However, only 37 delegations — including those representing EU and other international institutions — were headed by national leaders.

For example, Türkiye was represented by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, while San Marino participated at the level of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Political Affairs Luca Beccari.

Several national leaders, including those of Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands, had been invited but their representatives did not attend for various reasons.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was also invited. Although he did not attend the summit in person, he addressed participants via video message.

In addition to participating states, senior EU officials attended the summit, including António Costa, Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola and Kaja Kallas, as well as the Secretaries-General of international organizations such as NATO and OSCE.

Notably, this was the first EPC summit to which Canada was invited.

The map below highlights the countries that participated in the Yerevan summit at the level of President or Prime Minister.

Nane Manasyan
Union of Informed Citizens