For Europe’s leaders, the weekend began with another threat to their relevance, courtesy of President Donald Trump. Would the Americans really force Ukraine to capitulate, embrace President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and undermine Nato — all without even bothering to consult with them?
By Tuesday, the latest diplomatic emergency seemed to have been averted for the moment, if hardly resolved, thanks to a how-to-handle-Trump playbook that European leaders have honed over a year of similar episodes.
The Europeans — led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany — resisted the urge to lash out at Trump’s 28-point peace plan despite its pro-Russia tilt. Instead, they embraced the plan publicly to keep the President happy, even as they insisted that it was only a starting point for discussions.
The goal was to slow the process and eliminate some of the provisions they saw as crossing Europe’s red lines: Russian seizure of broad swaths of Ukrainian territory, a ban on Ukraine’s membership in Nato, a limit on the size of Ukraine’s military and a refusal to allow European troops on the ground in Ukraine.
The flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomacy appeared to have given the abrupt peace effort some momentum by the end of the weekend.
After a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 in South Africa on Saturday, the Europeans declared the President’s plan to be a good start and vowed to work together to “strengthen” its provisions.
By the end of negotiations in Geneva on Sunday, this time attended by senior European diplomats, the US and Ukraine issued a joint statement announcing an “updated and refined peace framework” and pledging to continue negotiations on a deal that upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty. European leaders met again to discuss Ukraine on Monday on the sidelines of a business summit in Angola.
On Tuesday afternoon, Starmer, Macron and Merz are scheduled to hold a meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, a group of European nations who have pledged to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after a deal is reached.
According to Mujtaba Rahman, a managing director for the Eurasia Group, “The Europeans effectively have a modus vivendi for dealing with the Trump administration.” He said that the aim was to “slowly steer Trump back to a more favourable position for the Ukrainians and the Europeans. That’s the effort in Geneva. And from what I can tell, the effort seems to have been quite successful so far”.
New York Times News Service