[ad_1]
Not invited to American talks with Russia on the future of Ukraine, European leaders are holding a hastily convened meeting of their own on Monday.
After years of exasperation from the US over Europe’s more relaxed attitude to defence spending – nothing quite makes the point about military irrelevance than being left out of the room where the future of Ukraine is likely to be decided.
President Macron’s scrambled plan to get European leaders to drop everything and come to Paris for talks demonstrates the high level of alarm at the new world order.
As well as the UK, Paris has confirmed those on the invite list for the “informal” meeting include Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark – as well as the president of the European Council, the president of the European Commission and the secretary general of NATO.
Politics Live: UK ‘disagrees’ with JD Vance on free speech comments
Sir Keir Starmer will be attending, describing it as “a once in a generation moment for our national security… we cannot allow any divisions in the alliance to distract from the external enemies we face”.
Donald Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, General Kellogg, has laid down the gauntlet to Europe’s leaders to come up with their own contributions to the Ukrainian peace process, calling on them to “participate in the debate, not by complaining about being at the table or not, but by presenting concrete proposals, ideas, by increasing spending.”
And that is exactly what will be on the table at Monday’s meeting.
While it seems unlikely the leaders will be either willing or practically able to develop a new European army of the kind requested by President Zelenskyy, their discussions will surely focus on the options for a future peacekeeping force in Ukraine, how best to bolster Ukraine’s existing fighting capabilities, and underlying everything – the level of future defence spending.
The figures tell a clear story. As the top three…
[ad_2]
