An emergency summit held by European
leaders on Monday to discuss the United States' plans to end the
war in Ukraine failed to yield any immediate results, with
leaders split on the issue of sending peacekeeping troops to
monitor a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
The leaders of seven EU member states (France, Germany, Italy,
Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark) and the United
Kingdom, as well as the presidents of the European Council, the
European Commission and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte,
gathered in Paris on Monday afternoon.
The meeting was convened at the initiative of French President
Emmanuel Macron to try to find a common response regarding the
continent's security while the United States is attempting to
reach an agreement with Russia on Ukraine and the European
security architecture without the Europeans.
On Wednesday, amid complaints by leaders who were not present on
Monday, Macron hosts a new meeting with with the aim of having
spoken with all 27 EU member states by the end of the week, he
announced in an interview with several regional dailies,
including Le Parisien, La Provence and Sud Ouest.
Still reeling from US Vice President JD Vance's withering attack
on the EU at the annual Munich Security Conference last weekend,
European leaders have been left stunned by President Donald
Trump's administration's moves on Ukraine, Russia and European
defense.
Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he
called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to talk about
starting negotiations to end the three-year war following
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In order to accelerate the negotiation process with Moscow, the
US administration has outlined a plan that would exclude Ukraine
from NATO, grant Russia territorial concessions, and close the
door on US participation in future peacekeeping operations.
The terms are being viewed in Europe's corridors of power as
Washington turning its back on allies in favour of making a deal
with Putin.
Fears of Europe being sidelined were heightened by a rare
meeting on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia between the top diplomats
from Russia and the United States. According to a photo released
by the Russian Foreign Ministry, US Secretary of State Marco
Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have begun
talks in Riyadh on ending the war in Ukraine - with Kyiv
noticeably absent.
The Kremlin said Tuesday's talks aim to lay the groundwork for
formal Ukraine peace negotiations and a future meeting between
Trump and Putin. No date has been set for the presidential
summit.
To send troops or not to send troops.
The main goal of Monday's meeting of European leaders was to
agree on a common strategy for dealing with Trump, who aims to
force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin to the
negotiating table, while tasking Europeans with securing a peace
deal.
NATO chief Rutte summed up the meeting by saying that Europe is
"ready and willing" to take a step forward in providing security
guarantees for Ukraine, as well as investing much more on
defence.
At the Munich Security Conference last weekend, European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen already announced that
the Commission will propose exempting defence from EU limits on
government spending.
Some members are already taking individual steps to strengthen
defence spending. Bulgaria's Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov
said that a procedure to exclude defence and military industry
costs from the inflation index will be adopted in Bulgaria. He
emphasised that this proposal originated from Bulgaria, which
has been advocating for this measure at EU defence ministers'
meetings for over a year.
While European leaders in Paris called for increased defense
spending, they however remained divided over sending
peacekeepers to Ukraine to support the implementation of a
possible peace deal.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the peacekeeper debate as
"completely premature". He said he was "irritated" by
discussions revolving around possible outcomes of peace talks
that have not yet taken place, without involving the Ukrainians.
"To put it bluntly, this is highly inappropriate," the German
leader said.
(continues).
(The content is based on news by agencies participating in the
enr, in this case AFP, AMNA, ANP, ANSA, Belga, BTA, CTK, dpa,
EFE, Europa Press, HINA, Lusa, STA, Tanjug, TASR)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
