European countries are debating who will represent them in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, while the continent’s leaders vie with Russia over participation in future negotiations.
On Friday, the 27-nation European Union (EU) summit in Dublin, Ireland, debated whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team, and who should take that role. The involvement of senior EU officials and politicians has been proposed, but no agreement has yet been reached.
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What that job entails is also unclear and controversial. However, EU leaders broadly agree on the need for Europe to participate in the ongoing tripartite negotiations between Washington, Kiev and Moscow.
The EU is concerned that the US-backed process would allow Russia and the US to decide the fate of a war involving the continent.
After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, US envoys said Europe would participate in future negotiations, but the Kremlin appeared to put the brakes on those plans, saying no decisions had been made.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday implored US President Donald Trump not to cause any surprises in his meeting with President Vladimir Putin scheduled for next week in China.
“Some people here in Dublin are worried that this could be a ‘second anchorage moment,'” Mertz said on the sidelines of the EU meeting, referring to the Alaska summit where people were stunned by Trump’s overtures to the Russian leader in the absence of envoys from Ukraine or Europe.
“Therefore, I would like to make my message clear to the United States: Please do not be surprised. Continue to play for ‘Team Europe’ and ‘Team Ukraine.'”
Kiev wants support from its European allies, but Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations because they fund and supply Ukraine’s military efforts.
“Absence of a united voice”
European leaders debated whether they should represent Europe alone or as a team.
Supporters of the single envoy, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a unified European voice has allowed individual countries and small groups to conduct diplomacy freely.
“There are too many different groups discussing this issue,” she says.
Kaja Kalas, the EU’s top diplomat and former prime minister of Estonia, asserted her role as special envoy on Friday: “I represent Europe in foreign and security policy.”
“I know the Russians don’t want me, but do we have a say in who represents Russia?” she said. “We can’t send someone who doesn’t have an organizational role like the United States is sending.”
Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the summit in Dublin, said: “Kaja Kalas has put herself forward for the role and for many she would be the natural choice. She is the EU’s voice on foreign policy.”
But he added that because Karas is seen by many as “uncompromising” on Russia, “there is no unanimous support for her.”
Crows aren’t the only players in this game. European Council President Antonio Costa is also a leading candidate for the role.
US and Russia seek clarification of European opinion
American and Russian diplomats have criticized Europe for not being united.
After U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates this week, U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner said: “If Europe could identify one person who speaks on its behalf, that would be a bigger accomplishment than having Russia bring them into the negotiations.”
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said the Kremlin had not confirmed that Putin had agreed to expand the tripartite talks to include Europe.
The correspondent said Russian officials were criticizing Europe even though they had said they were open to dialogue with European leaders, noting that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov even compared European leaders to “spiders in a bottle.”
“During Thursday’s talks here in the Kremlin, the Russian side spoke about the review of Europe’s security architecture,” Shapovalova said. But “at the same time, Russia refuses to bring EU leaders to the negotiating table during peace negotiations,” she noted.
