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European countries have come up against sending troops to Ukraine when they started a crisis meeting intended to reach a consensus on how to respond to the peace talks of American president Donald Trump with Russia.
While the leaders gathered in Paris for the emergency meeting on Monday afternoon, Germany, Poland and Spain reported a reluctance to send peacekeeping forces to the country torn apart by war , a few hours after Great Britain offered to put “boots on the ground”.
The meeting of Monday, which, in the hope of France, will also produce plans to help European countries increase defense spending, is organized by President Emmanuel Macron and attended by six EU countries, the United Kingdom and officials of NATO and EU.
Macron and Trump spoke right in front of the Paris summit.
The United States European Allies run to respond to the shock announcement by the president of talks with Russia, which is expected to start on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.
France proposed to discuss a “comfort force” which would be stationed behind, not on a future ceasefire line in Ukraine, according to three managers informed of the preparations for the meeting.
While British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “ready and disposed. . .[to put]Our own troops on the ground if necessary ”, other countries are much more reluctant.
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces national elections on Sunday, maintained his longtime caution on troop deployments, saying that the debate was premature.
“The question is now to know how peace can be assured without decisions being taken on the heads of the Ukrainian people,” he said before the meeting.
“No one is currently planning to send troops to Ukraine,” said José Manuel Albares, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs. “Peace is still very far and for a single reason: Vladimir Putin.”
He added that any discussion on troop deployments or peace soldiers will have to “consider for what mission, who will understand, under what flag, with what mandate”.
Although Poland has considerably increased defense expenses since the start of the war and is generally relatively bellicist, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was not ready to send troops to Ukraine.
“But we will also support in terms of logistics and political support, countries that will eventually want to provide such guarantees in the future,” added Tusk.
“If we Europeans do not go much in defense now, we will be forced to spend 10 times more if we do not prevent a wider war,” he said.
The meeting on Monday was to discuss the financing of increased European defense expenses and military capacities, potentially thanks to joint loans or what the French call other methods of “innovative funding”.
Macron has long called for the EU to engage in common loans to reduce his dependence on American troops and weapons, although Germany and the Netherlands opposed such a decision.
The dramatic change in the position of the United States on Ukraine has forced European leaders’ positions to evolve quickly.
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday that she would propose to the capitals allow a temporary relaxation of the rules of the block on deficits for defense expenses specifically, a plan which, according to those responsible for The EU had a large support through the block.
Starmer also undertook to determine a “path” for the defense expenses of the United Kingdom to reach 2.5% of GDP
Addressing journalists before going to Paris, the British Prime Minister said: “It is not only the front line in Ukraine. It is the front line of Europe and the United Kingdom. This is our national security and I think we have to do more. »»
Report by Leila Abboud and Ben Hall in Paris, Henry Foy in Brussels, Raphael Minder in Warsaw, Barney Jopson in Madrid, Laura Pitel in Berlin and George Parker in London.
