Macron calls meeting with European leaders amid US tensions

Munich — French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders, including Britain’s prime minister, on Monday for an emergency summit on the Ukraine war after US officials suggested Europe would have no role in any talks on ending the conflict.

The French presidency said on Sunday Macron had called for “consultation talks” and that they would address the tumultuous change in the US approach to Ukraine and the attendant risks to the security of the European continent.

Others at the summit meeting will be German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa from the EU.

US President Donald Trump stunned European allies in Nato and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin without consulting with them and would start a peace process.

Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg jolted Europe further on Saturday when he said it would not have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, even after Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

The US has also asked European allies in Nato what they would need from Washington to participate in Ukraine security arrangements, according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.

Dozens of similar summits have shown the 27-nation EU to be dithering, disunited and struggling to come up with a cohesive plan to end the Ukraine war on its doorstep and dealing with Russia, three years into Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.

Some countries were unhappy that the meeting was only for selected leaders and not a full EU summit, EU officials said.

The French presidency sought to assuage those misgivings saying Monday’s meeting could lead to other formats “with the objective of gathering all partners interested in peace and European security”.

Reuters