The leaders of many largest European countries came to Paris on Monday in order to forge a strategy for their own security, while President Trump’s envoys were preparing for talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine Without them.
The meeting in Paris was in a hurry after the first visit to Europe last week by vice-president JD Vance and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who left European leaders alarmed by the tone and the message of the New Trump administration and what it could contain for the continent.
European leaders were shocked by the hostility of Mr. Vance’s scathing speech in Munich criticizing the exclusion by Europe of the far -right groups of power, and the sudden American plans to start peace talks with Russia In Saudi Arabia, from Tuesday, without the presence of Ukrainian or European leaders.
Meetings with new US officials have aroused the fear that the United States will want to withdraw thousands of soldiers from Europe, as Mr. Hegseth suggested in Brussels last week, but on a calendar that would leave Europe vulnerable to aggressive Russia and that M..
“Europe’s security is a turning point,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, on x After arriving in Paris on Monday. “Yes, it is Ukraine – but it is also us. We need an emergency state of mind. We need a wave of defense. And we need them both now.
The meeting, called by President Emmanuel Macron from France to the Palais de l’Elysée, was a first effort to discuss a more coordinated and collective response to the Trump administration. Mr. Macron and Mr. Trump held a telephone call 20 minutes before the start of the meeting, said the French.
During the meeting, European leaders discussed what they were willing to commit to concluding a peace agreement on the war in short -term and long -term Ukraine, how to secure the continent when it is confronted with Expansionist Russia and withdrawal predicts from the assurance of American support.
They discussed questions such as military spending and how to guarantee Ukraine’s security once a kind of permanent ceasefire or peace is concluded, including the possibility of troop commitments in Ukraine.
Trump officials said they expect Europeans to be responsible for the main financial and military support for Ukraine in the future, but there is enormous imprecision on the whole problem. Europeans want to be at the negotiating table, if we are created.
As a former NATO manager, Camille Grand, said: “We cannot reasonably expect that Europeans provide security guarantees for an agreement they do not negotiate.”
After the meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany said that any debate now on sending peacekeepers to Ukraine was “completely premature” and “very inappropriate” while the war is underway.
Scholz said he was “a little irritated” about the debate on peacekeeping “at the wrong time”. His opinions are shared by Poland and Spain, among other nations, in particular given the imprecision of what any security guarantee would mean.
Scholz, like Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, warned the United States Division of Europe despite disagreements. “There should be no security and responsibility division between Europe and the United States,” said Scholz. “NATO is based on the fact that we are still acting together and share the risk, ensuring our security. This should not be questioned. »»
In agreement, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said that he did not consider American messages of the last days as a sign of disengagement, but rather as a strategy to push Europe to increase its own military spending and to S ‘Implicate more in Ukrainian security. “We send back the message we are together,” said Schoof.
Mr. Tusk said Poland would not send troops in Ukraine but would support the countries that have chosen to do so. And he warned that “if someone seriously wants to talk about guarantees for Ukraine, they must be 100% sure that they will be able to fulfill these guarantees and bonds.”
The Prime Minister puts Frederiksen of Denmark said that such an informal meeting is “not for decision -making”, but “the most important thing in the meeting this evening is the need for all of us to intensify when It is a question of spending in defense. Russia is not only a threat to Ukraine, but all of us. »»
The Paris meeting comes the same day as Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The State Department said that he would be joined by Mike Waltz, the national security advisor, and Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy of Mr. Trump.
They are supposed to discuss with Russian officials of the future of the Russian-Ukraine war, but even these talks are more on how to set up future peace talks rather than their substance.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, of Ukraine, was in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for a trace of negotiations with Russia which is distinct from the effort of the Trump administration, focusing on the exchange of prisoners and turning children Ukrainians from Russia.
He reiterated that Ukraine would not accept any negotiated mandate between Russia and the Trump administration without Ukrainian participation, and confirmed that Ukrainian representatives would not be in talks in Saudi Arabia.
“The question of a peacekeeping contingent is being discussion in France,” Zelensky told journalists in Abu Dhabi. “Emmanuel told me that he would share all the details,” he said, referring to the French president. “If we are talking about a peacekeeping contingent, then what will be its size?” Where will it be deployed? What countries will be part of it? How will they be armed? It is crucial not to lose the United States in this process in one way or another. »»
Mr. Zelensky also said that when it comes to concluding an agreement with Russia, “Europe must be at the negotiation table – I do not know in what format, but it is very important for us. “”
Ivo H. Daalder, former NATO American ambassador, said that Mr. Zelensky and Europeans have realized that they are in this boat together and can no longer count on the United States and that the concern that Trump and Putin will make an agreement on the head is real.
“They must therefore depend on each other, and Europeans must decide to intensify to help Ukrainians continue the war, if the proposed agreement is bad, or to throw kyiv under the bus, which would soothe Putin,” Said Daalder. “They now realize that they have no real choice and that they must support Ukraine, and that’s what this meeting is used.”
But there were already cracks. Paris talks included leaders from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the President of the European Council, the president of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO.
There have been criticisms of the primary European European states that have not been invited, a senior Baltic civil servant affirming that Mr. Macron’s initiative divides the unity of the European Union, and that the meeting would have had to be called by President António Costa of the European Council, not by Mr. Macron.
“In public, Europeans will say that we must all hold together, but this selective meeting is not a good start for a united Europe on these questions,” said Mary Elise Sarotte, a diplomatic historian who wrote an influential book At the beginning of NATO expansion, “not an inch”.
As he often does, Mr. Macron seized a perceived vacuum from the European management to call this informal meeting to speak of a collective response to what many perceive as an American retirement of decades of security in Europe, in order to Focus on Asia and domestic challenges.
Mr. Macron called for increased European sovereignty and the capacity for self -defense a characteristic of his presidency, which he sometimes called “strategic autonomy”, less dependent on Washington.
This meeting is expected to be the first of many European leaders in the coming weeks, said an adviser to Mr. Macron, adding that meetings include other countries in the future.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Great Britain declared in An article published in the Daily Telegraph that it was “ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary”.
After the meeting, Mr. Starmer said that for any European deployment “there must be an American security net, because an American security guarantee is the only way to effectively dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”
Mr. Macron was speak for months European leaders in the formation of a tampon force of ceasefire in Ukraine to ensure that any peace agreement with Russia is maintained. But his original idea was to have European forces far from the front lines, to help Ukrainians in training and logistics.
Military experts said it was first necessary to decide the type of force necessary, with what type of resources and what happens if they are attacked by Russia. This is why European leaders have said that they must have guarantees of American involvement, even if American troops are not on the ground, for key weapons systems, air defense, air coverage, the ‘Satellite intelligence and others.
European leaders have also discussed the acceleration of European defense capacities, as many now believe that the United States will withdraw tens of thousands of American troops in Europe.
Only 23 of the 32 NATO members are currently spending at least 2% of the GDP for the Defense – after having sworn to do so in 2014. And NATO clearly indicated that 2% should be “a floor, not a ceiling” , and more must be spent. A new expenditure objective will be set at the NATO summit meeting this summer and is expected to be 3% or 3.5%.
Andrew E. Kramer Contribution of Kyiv, Ukraine, Ségolène the Stradic from Paris, Claire Moses from London and Edward Wong of Washington, DC
