French President Emmanuel Macron will host an emergency summit on Monday with top European leaders to discuss increasing alarm about the war in Ukraine, in the wake of the US’s dramatic change of policy. The summit follows Washington’s signal that Europe would play no part in possible peace talks.
The summit will be attended by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in addition to European Council President Antonio Costa.
Macron requested these “consultation talks” in the face of the Ukrainian policy shift by the US, which warned against the risks to European security. The tensions heightened last week when US President Donald Trump made public that he had engaged in one-on-one meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting European allies. Additional alarm was raised after Trump’s Ukraine special envoy, Keith Kellogg, indicated that Europe would not participate in peace talks, contrary to Washington asking European capitals for feedback on security assurances for Kyiv.
As per documents seen by Reuters, the US has also inquired NATO allies how they would like to be supported by Washington in order to join Ukraine security arrangements.
The EU has not been able to come up with a unified stance on the war, and previous summits have usually witnessed internal conflicts and indecision. Some of the European countries have complained that Monday’s gathering features only a limited number of leaders and not the entire EU institution. Nevertheless, the French presidency attempted to soothe worries, indicating that the talks could be followed by larger formats for ensuring peace and European security.
While Europe struggles to come to terms with Washington’s shifting position, the summit will be seen to lay the groundwork for a more defined European response to the war.
