Power or submission: EDP at the Renew Europe Leaders' Summit

The liberal, democratic and centrist family gathered in Brussels on 15 October 2026 for the Renew Europe Leaders’ Summit, organised by Renew Europe together with the European Democratic Party and the ALDE Party and held on the day EU heads of state and government opened their European Council.

The European Democratic Party brought one of its largest delegations, led by Secretary General Sandro Gozi. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) attended, together with the party's national leaders: Stefanos Kasselakis, President of Democrats – Progressive Centre (Greece), Péter Márki-Zay, leader of Everybody's Hungary People's Party, Arnold Cassola, leader of Momentum (Malta), Maria Elena Boschi and Enrico Borghi of Italia Viva, and Miren Martiarena, who led the EAJ-PNV delegation. EDP MEPs were also there in force: Yvan Verougstraete (Les Engagés), Laurence Farreng and Christophe Grudler (Mouvement Démocrate), Joachim Streit (Freie Wähler), Lukas Sieper (Partei des Fortschritts), Oihane Agirregoitia (EAJ-PNV) and Pina Picierno (Spazio Pubblico). They were joined by Natalija Martinčević (Narodna stranka – Reformisti, Croatia), Androulla Kaminara (ALMA – Citizens for Cyprus), Gerrit-Jan van Otterloo (50PLUS, Netherlands) and Alice Bernard-Montini for the Young Democrats for Europe.

“Power or submission, there is no other option”

EDP Secretary General Sandro Gozi spoke for the party and made sovereignty his central theme. “Today Europe is not the enemy of our national sovereignty, it is its greatest guarantee,” he said. “National sovereignty without EU sovereignty is an illusion.”

He went after nationalists who “promise sovereignty and deliver submission, promise independence and deliver dependence”, and described the choice in front of the continent bluntly: “In a world shaped by Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, either we exercise our power or we submit to that of others. Power or submission, there is no other option.”

For Gozi, that choice starts with defence. “The sum of twenty-seven national defences is not a European defence,” he said, calling for common procurement, common financing and an integrated command. He also warned anyone who uses the word peace to justify concessions to Moscow: “Surrender is not peace, and appeasement is not diplomacy. Abandoning Ukraine would not bring security to Europe, it would put it in danger.”

The second step is reform. “We cannot ask for European power and keep the national right of veto,” Gozi said, pressing for majority voting, targeted Treaty reform and, where some governments refuse to move, a Europe where “those who are ready must lead.” “We need a revolution in the centre, and that starts with changing how Europe works,” he added. “We are not here to manage Europe's decline. We are here to build its power and its democracy.”

One family, many voices

All the EDP leaders spoke in the summit's discussions on European security, economic renewal and the reform of the Union. Their message was the same, from Brussels to Bilbao and from Athens to Budapest: firm support for Ukraine and a firm response to Russian aggression, concrete answers on the cost of living, and an EU budget that matches the Union's ambitions. The same priorities were championed by Valérie Hayer, President of Renew Europe, and Svenja Hahn, President of the ALDE Party.

Packed workshops and a call for pop-centrism

The summit was more than the leaders' table. Its workshops and breakout sessions drew strong attendance from MEPs, party officials, young activists and experts, and turned the summit's priorities into practical proposals for the months ahead. One of the most followed was the seminar on “pop-centrism”, with political scientist and writer Yascha Mounk, author of The Identity Trap, and Lukas Sieper. Their starting point was simple: the centre cannot answer populism by retreating into technocracy. It needs to become popular again, close to people's everyday concerns and able to speak the language of those who feel left behind, without giving in to the shortcuts and simplifications of populists. Sieper argued for a centrism that starts from citizens' real needs, such as housing, wages, security and public services, and that defends liberal democracy by showing it delivers. That message is at the heart of the EDP's own project: a reformist, pro-European centre that is ambitious on Europe and attentive to the people it is meant to serve.