Europe is confronting an ‘existential’ crisis, foreign ministers say

Europe is confronted at a “existential” moment in its history and must take a daring and united position when it comes to guaranteeing the future security of Ukraine, said on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference of the Munich.

“It’s an existential moment and it is a time when Europe must get up,” German Minister for Foreign Affairs said Annalena Baerbock on Saturday, when she participated in a panel entitled “Europole?” The new geopolitical role of the old continent, “moderated by Silvia Amaro de CNBC.

“Our response to others [policy of] “ My Nation First ” is “Europe United”, and this is what we show here on the panel, this is what we have shown in the last two days – that we have specified that it does not There will be no peace in Europe if it is not European peace, “she said.

The British Foreign Minister David Lammy described war in Ukraine as the first line not only for the country but for Europe, and agreed that the continent should answer an “existential question” on the future security of the future security of Ukraine.

“We know that even when we come to a negotiated peace, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not disappear, so this is an existential question for Europe, we need [to look at] This question alongside the United States and at a timely time, we will enter a debate on security guarantees and there will be an arrangement, “he said.

European foreign ministers agreed on Saturday that allowing Ukraine to join the military alliance in the future could be the simplest and most profitable means of detering Russia from future aggression towards its neighbor.

“We say that there is an irreversible path for Ukraine towards NATO,” said Lammy to MSC, adding that it was “the cheapest and it is the best mechanism to ensure peace not only in Europe But through Euro-Atlantic “.

His German counterpart Baerbock has accepted, saying that “the way of Ukraine lies in [entering] NATO “and that it would be the” cheapest “means of guaranteeing the safety of Ukraine in the long term.

European officials were left in shock when President Donald Trump announced last week that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that the two leaders had accepted peace talks, apparently without consulting European allies before calls.

Trump and his defense secretary Pete Hegseth caused more in -depth dismay in Europe by declaring that they thought that Ukrainian membership in the NATO military alliance was a “unrealistic” objective.

European officials replied that it was an error for American officials to take Ukrainian membership in NATO, a key concern of Russia and a potentially key lever for allies, outside the negotiation table.

This year’s Munich Security Conference has brought together defense and security officials around the world to discuss the future of Ukraine, peace discussions with Russia and Defense Architecture ‘Europe.

Reunion comes at a time when expectations are high for war between Russia and Ukraine can be put in term, but also increased insecurity as to what a peace agreement in the United States could look like, and What role the allies could have in negotiations.

It is also feared that Russia will be tempted to regroup and attack Ukraine again in the future if Kyiv does not benefit from sufficient security guarantees.

European officials have warned that if they are not involved in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, An agreement would not work, but NATO chief Mark Rutte also told MSC that NATO members in Europe should “stop complaining” to be sidelined and should rather propose “Concrete ideas” to end the war on simple conditions for kyiv.

Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland – who declared that the current situation was both “a crisis and a result” of Europe consuming a “peace divide” for too long – added on Saturday that it It was not too concerned about the fact that Europe was not consulted in front of Trump’s phone call with Putin last week.

However, he thought that “the call was a mistake because he confirms President Putin and reduced morale in Ukraine”, but said that, sooner or later, Europe should be involved in talks on future security from Ukraine.

“But when President Trump says that in the context of an agreement, European troops will need [safeguarding a deal] Then it will be up to us to provide them, sooner or later, we will have to be involved, “he said.

Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in France, said that the continent had a lot to offer in terms of leadership.

“Let me first try to fight against a certain form of bashing in euros or Euro-pessimism. We hear on stage and many of us are proud to say that we believe that Europe is a Super power. declared to the panel.

“That said, there are major challenges for Europe and one of them is to extend defense spending,” he said.

The fact of not ensuring a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine was not only going to Europe, but also the United States, said the president of the European Commission on Friday, Ursula von der Leyen.

The US Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg said on Saturday that a peace plan for the two nations at war could arrive in a few days or weeks.

“I am at Trump time,” Kellogg told the delegates at a marginal event at the Munich security conference, referring to the famous quick decision of US President Donald Trump.