Although Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is generally known as a very active head of government in Europe, he has met only six other European leaders at a bilateral summit this year. On the occasion of Europe Day, BNR takes stock of the results achieved by European leaders in the field of bilateral meetings. “They’re just useful for personal contact,” says historian and former Rutte adviser Ivo van de Wijdeven.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky attracted attention last week with an unexpected visit to our country. While not giving rise to concrete commitments, the personal visit proved to be very effective in putting the Ukrainian case on the agenda. Face-to-face meetings allow government leaders to agree on things they otherwise would not have done. “You can’t see people’s body language on Zoom as well,” Van de Wijdeven points out. “If you really want to do business, you’d rather meet in person.”
Spain: not very influential, but active
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is doing much better bilaterally than Rutte. This year he has already visited twelve other European leaders, making him the “leader” of all 27 European leaders. This is surprising, because as the fourth largest economy in Europe, Spain is not known as an influential country. The fact that Sanchez has nonetheless spoken to so many leaders may be partly explained by the presidency of the Council of the European Union that Spain will take over from Sweden in June. This places the Iberian country at the center of European governance for the next period.
Not all visits are equally relevant to a leader’s stature, according to Van Wijdeven. “But if you are a frequent guest of the big member states, Germany, France and Italy, then you are doing well.” In addition to his busy European agenda, Sanchez also visited Chinese President Xi Jinping this year.
Walkways
According to Van de Wijdeven, bilateral meetings are important to get everyone to agree. ‘There are always things that aren’t necessarily predetermined. Bilateral meetings are a bit like agreements in the corridors».
Even though our Prime Minister Mark Rutte is known to be very active on Europe scene, this year he has had only one bilateral meeting with six other European leaders. Among them are the highly influential leaders of Germany and France in Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron even came to The Hague twice and this week Rutte will speak with Brazilian President Lula.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
