Top European leaders vow ‘strong’ support for Ukraine ahead of NATO summit
Leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Poland and Germany met in Berlin to pledge increased support for Ukraine before the July NATO summit in Ankara.
The European Group of Five (E5) summit took place in Berlin on Wednesday, bringing together German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The talks aimed to coordinate their stance ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July, which will be attended by 32 countries, including US President Donald Trump.
Chancellor Merz stated that European leaders want to send “a strong signal of support for Ukraine” at the NATO summit. “The message to Russia is: Ukraine remains strong,” Merz said as he hosted his counterparts in Berlin. In a joint statement, the leaders pledged “to further substantially support Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression, including through sanctions and economic pressure on Russia as well as support for the resilience of Ukraine’s energy sector.”
The meeting followed a video call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Merz noted that a successful summit would strengthen transatlantic ties with the US and unite Europeans. He also said he would brief Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the outcomes of the Berlin talks.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said Merz “was looking to send a message to the wider world and perhaps also to two specific individuals, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, about the preparedness of the E5 countries to play their role in NATO.” The Berlin meeting echoed messages from last week’s EU summit, which expressed a “clear commitment … to increasing their defence spending to bolster Ukraine.”
This comes after Trump said he would do whatever he can to end the Russia-Ukraine war following a “very good” meeting at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, last week. Macron and Meloni said the Europeans would signal readiness at the NATO summit for a military mission in the Strait of Hormuz, but both stressed several conditions, including the finalisation of a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran.
European leaders also praised outgoing British Prime Minister Starmer for his work over the past two years. Merz cited his “team play,” Macron his “good strategic decisions,” and Meloni his “excellent cooperation.” Anglophile Tusk even said Starmer’s commitment meant Europe had become a united force again and leaders had “forgotten Brexit for a while.”
