European countries came up against sending troops to Ukraine during a crisis meeting intended to reach a consensus on how to respond to the peace talks by American president Donald Trump with Russia.
While the leaders gathered in Paris for the summit on Monday afternoon, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain expressed a reluctance to send peace forces to the country torn apart by the War, a few hours after Great Britain proposed to put “boots on the ground”.
Reunion, which France also hoped to give plans to help European countries increase defense spending, was organized by President Emmanuel Macron and to which leaders attended six other EU countries in the United Kingdom and NATO and EU officials.
Macron and Trump spoke before the Paris summit.
According to the informed officials of the meeting, France proposed a “comfort force” which is parked behind, and not, a future ceasefire line in Ukraine.
But in the winning remarks after the summit, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a discussion on the deployments of “very inappropriate” troops since the war was still waged.
“The discussion is completely premature, and it’s the right time to have it,” said Scholz, who faces national elections on Sunday and has long been cautious about the issue of sending soldiers to Ukraine.
He said he was “a little irritated” by the discussion, calling him “an incomprehensible debate at the wrong time and on the bad subject”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told her colleagues leaders that she hesitated to send European troops to Ukraine, saying that it was “the most complex and the least likely to be effective” of various options, according to people informed of his remarks.
But British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “ready to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there was a lasting peace agreement”.
When asked what a European peacekeeping force might look like, Starmer said that talks on a cease-fire were still “very early”.
However, he added: “There must be an American safety net. An American security guarantee is the only effective way to dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine again. »»
The European Allies of Washington run to respond to the announcement of shock by Trump peace talks with Russia, which should start on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. The American president also asked European nations to spend more in defense.
Some European capitals fear that Trump will soon raise the hands of Ukraine and demand that the continent ensure the security of the country after any ceasefire, which implies a commitment of financial and military resources far beyond the current levels.
As well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Poland also argued after the meeting so that the United States remains involved in Ukraine’s security insurance.
The Kremlin praised discussions with the United States in Riyadh, which will not include Ukraine, to restore complete bilateral relations with Washington and end the war.
But the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that kyiv would not recognize the outcome of any negotiations from which she was excluded.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, later said that “person” would impose decisions in Zelenskyy as “elected chief of a sovereign nation”.
A British official has dismissed the reluctance of certain European countries to offer troops to maintain a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying: “We don’t need everyone to say” yes “, just enough.”
Danish Prime Minister puts Frederiksen said that she was “open to discuss many different things”, as troop deployments.
“But I would also like to emphasize that there are really, really a lot of things that must be clarified before reaching this situation, because we are talking about the security of our own men and women,” she added.
Spain expressed skepticism to the idea of committing troops in Ukraine in front of the Paris summit.
“No one is currently planning to send troops to Ukraine. Peace is still very far and for a single reason: Vladimir Putin, “said José Manuel Albares, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Although Poland has increased defense expenses since the start of the Ukraine war and has been a fellow worker on the need to protect Europe from Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was not ready to send troops.
“But we will support. . . In terms of logistics and political support, countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees in the future, ”added Tusk.
He minimized the differences exposed at the meeting by saying that European countries had all realized that they had to strengthen their soldiers.
“There was an agreement and unanimity that a significant increase in defense expenses is absolutely necessary,” said Tusk.
The leaders of the Paris meeting explained how to finance improvements in European defense capacities, potentially thanks to joint loans or what France has called other “innovative funding” methods.
Macron urged the EU to engage in common loans to reduce his dependence on American troops and weapons, although Germany and the Netherlands opposed.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday that she would propose EU capitals authorizing a temporary relaxation of the rules of the block on the deficits for higher defense spending.
Scholz approved the idea of an “escape clause” with the EU deficit rules, but has stopped supporting common loans.
Starmer undertook to determine a “path” for British defense expenses to reach 2.5% of GDP.
“Europe will have to intensify in terms of expenses and the commitments we provide,” he said.
Report by Leila Abboud and Ben Hall in Paris, Henry Foy in Brussels, George Parker in London,, Laura Pitel in Berlin, Raphael Minder in Warsaw, Barney Jopson in Madrid and Amy Kazmin in Rome
