Europe to send diplomatic team to Ukraine peace talks, with France among five countries
The European Union and five countries — the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland — will send a joint team of diplomats to the next round of Ukraine peace talks, European Council President Antonio Costa said on Friday.
Europe will send a team of diplomats representing the European Union and five individual countries to the next round of talks on ending the war in Ukraine, European Council President Antonio Costa announced on Friday after a summit. The team will include officials from the 27-member EU and from five members of the "Coalition of the Willing", the group backing Ukraine: the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. The decision matters because Europe wants to avoid being shut out of US-led negotiations aimed at ending the nearly five-year-old war.
"We need to integrate all of us. And for this it's essential to have a team and to speak with only one voice," Costa said.
Fears of being sidelined
European leaders worry that a US-backed process will leave them on the margins and Kyiv vulnerable while Moscow and Washington decide the conflict's outcome. Russia does not want European countries in direct negotiations, complaining that they finance and supply Ukraine's military. Ukraine, for its part, wants European support.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday at a European Political Community meeting in Dublin that without Europeans there is no support for Ukraine, and that US support is gone. US envoy Jared Kushner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed after meeting in Dublin that Europe would take part in the next round. Kushner said the deal could not be concluded without Europeans and that Putin was "willing to give it a try."
One envoy or a team
European leaders debated whether to be represented by one person, as Russia has demanded and the US appeared to prefer, or by a team. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed a single envoy. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Europeans "squabble like spiders in a jar."
It is not yet clear who will represent the EU institutions. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she is the one representing Europe on foreign and security policy. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the talks an exaggeration to describe as negotiations, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged "no surprises" ahead of Trump's expected trip to Beijing.
