Czechia's six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union is coming to an end. In January, Sweden will replace Czechia at the helm.

Despite the war in Ukraine and soaring energy prices, Prague succeeded in uniting EU member states with neighboring allies. 

Half a year ago – when the rotating presidency was handed from France to Czechia – pouring rain did nothing to dampen optimism. 

"One day looking back we will see that the success of the Czech presidency made it possible to overcome this difficult moment," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the time, expressing confidence that Europe would have enough energy to get through the winter.

Six months later, the energy crisis still casts a shadow over Europe, but Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala can claim some success on another front: uniting the continent. 

He led the move to create the European Political Community (EPC) - an inter-governmental forum designed to bring 27 EU members and 17 neighboring countries closer together.

"Our common task is to create an informal platform for all democratic countries in Europe where we can cooperate, share ideas and develop solutions to return prosperity and peace to our continent," Fiala said at the EPC's first gathering in Prague.

With the community's next summit set to take place in Moldova, Brussels aims to meet non-EU countries on an equal footing, but requires them to adopt anti-Russia sanctions in order to be protected from any future cross-border aggression.

"We have to protect those countries that are not yet member states of the European Union," the president of the EU parliament Roberta Metsola argued. 

"They have aligned themselves with our sanctions and are very much at the mercy of a very very intimidating neighbor."

Meanwhile, Czechia has been struggling with growing resentment within its own borders, partly due to record inflation of 18 percent. And while the government managed to score points in Brussels during its EU presidency, it failed to duplicate that success at home.