European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a US-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.
Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team — and who should take on the role — is being debated on Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior European Union (EU) officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is no consensus yet.
What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the UK to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.
“This needs to be resolved,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said as he arrived at the summit. “I would hope that today’s discussions bring clarity around this,” he said. “It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two.” Ukraine is eager for backup from its European allies, as it’s reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean towards Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.
European leaders also distrust US President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.
“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday. “There is no more US support. At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said. European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine. As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.
US envoy Jared Kushner and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, “They will have a voice.”
Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy. “There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.
Meloni has criticised a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including an October call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests. Martin said European representation at the negotiations “can’t just be EU” because the Coalition of the Willing — a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine — “has involved far more than the European Union”.