France confirmed on Sunday (16) that the next day will host a summit of European leaders to discuss the war in Ukraine and European security, while the continent tries to respond specifically to the unilateral approach of US President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, in relation to the conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron will receive “the main European countries” to talk about “European security,” said French diplomacy head Jean-Noël Barrot, on France Inter Radio.
The minister did not specify who will participate in this “working meeting”, but according to a person familiar with European diplomacy, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark and the United Kingdom will be present, which is no longer part of the European Union.
European Council President António Costa, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also attend the meeting, organized with extreme urgency, according to the same source.
The German Premier, Olaf Scholz, should be at the summit, said sources of the German government, as well as Donald Tusk, according to a member of the Poland’s High Chamber.
They said the meeting aims to see that immediate help can be given to Ukraine, what concrete role Europe can play by providing security guarantees for Kiev, as well as strengthening the region’s collective security.
Dozens of similar dome showed that Europe is hesitant, sometimes disunited and politically weak, struggling to elaborate a cohesive plan to end the war in Ukraine and deal with Russia three years after Moscow’s invasion of his neighbor.
The meeting will take place at a particularly delicate moment for transatlantic relations.
Trump surprised the Europeans on Wednesday (12) by stating that he had talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin to start talks about Ukraine.
The US President’s announcement caused European leaders to fear that they were excluded from negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, invaded by Russia in February 2022.
The subject was one of the main themes of the Munich Security Conference, which began on Friday (14) and ends this Sunday in the German city.
At the summit, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellog, said in response to a question about European participation in negotiations: “I belong to the realistic school, I don’t believe this will happen.”
At the same event, US Vice President JD Vance expressed solidarity with the attack on Munich on Thursday, but did not mention support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, focusing on the extreme right and criticism of the regulation policies of networks. social. The public, composed of European leaders, expected signs of American support to the Ukrainians.
The head of French diplomacy pointed out that “only Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting, and we will support them until they have made that decision.”
Ukrainians “will not stop until they are sure that the peace offered will be lasting” and until they have security guarantees, Barrot said.
