France’s President Emmanuel Macron will host leaders from key European countries on Monday to discuss the continent’s security. File photo
| Photo Credit: AFP
France’s President Emmanuel Macron will host leaders from key European countries on Monday to discuss the continent’s security, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, amid growing concerns over U.S. efforts to end the Ukraine war.
U.S. President Donald Trump blindsided Ukraine and its European backers this week by starting discussions on Russia’s invasion in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The new U.S. administration has also warned its NATO allies that Europe will no longer be its top security priority and it may shift forces to as it switches focus to China.
“The President will bring together the main European countries tomorrow for discussions on European security,” Barrot told the France Inter radio broadcaster on Sunday, without saying which nations would participate.
The meeting in Paris on Monday afternoon was to include Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark and NATO chief Marc Rutte and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, a European diplomatic source told AFP.
British media have said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to attend.
The Kremlin has pushed for negotiations — set to kick off in Saudi Arabia in coming days — to discuss not just the Ukraine war as it nears a third anniversary but also broader European security.
That has sparked fears among European nations that Putin could revive demands he floated prior to the 2022 invasion aimed at limiting NATO forces in eastern Europe and US involvement on the continent.
‘Only the Ukrainians can decide’
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.
Mr. Zelenskyy said there should be “no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine” or “about Europe without Europe”.
Barrot said: “Only the Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting and we will support them until they make that decision.”
The Ukrainians “will never stop as long as they are not sure that the peace that is suggested to them will be long-lasting,” he added.
“Who can provide the guarantees? It’s the Europeans.”
Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Saturday said Europe would not be directly involved in talks though it would still have an “input”.
Asked whether Europeans would be at the table, Kellogg responded: “I’m of the school of realism, I think that’s not going to happen.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory lost since 2014.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Sunday said that talks between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine war must not rewrite European security.
“There’s no way in which we should open the door for this Russian fantasy of a new, indivisible security order, where it can do spheres of interest,” he said.
Finland shares a 1,300-km border with Russia.
Published – February 17, 2025 05:03 am IST
