European leaders began to arrive Monday afternoon at Elysee Palace in Paris for an emergency summit on coordinating a response to a change of tone from the US during last week’s Munich Security Conference, with growing concern that Washington and Moscow will cut a bilateral deal to end the war while leaving Kyiv and European allies on the sidelines.
The French presidency said ahead of the summit that host Emmanuel Macron spoke with US President Donald Trump earlier Monday, without sharing details of the conversation.
Marcon greeted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Elysee Palace. Scholz had called for “European unity” ahead of the summit.
“This will be a great task for Europe, for the US and international alliance partners,” Scholz said.
On whether European countries could contribute ground troops on a peacekeeping mission, a German Defense Ministry spokesperson said: “If the framework is given, Germany will not shy away.”
UK PM Keir Starmer arrived at Elysee after making headlines earlier Monday for suggesting the UK would be willing to contribute troops to a Ukraine peacekeeping mission.
“I think there’s a bigger piece here as well, which is that this isn’t just about the front line in Ukraine. It’s the front line of Europe and of the United Kingdom. It’s about our national security and I think that we need to do more.” Starmer said earlier on Monday.
Starmer is due to meet with Trump in Washington next week, his office confirmed on Monday.
The EU is expected to send a strong message of support for Ukraine as the US has said it expects Europe to contribute more to aiding Kyiv.
Ahead of the summit, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X that European security was “at a turning point.”
“Yes, it is about Ukraine – but it is also about us. We need an urgency mindset. We need a surge in defense. And we need both of them now.”
NATO chief Mark Rutte from the Netherlands, told reporters over the weekend on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that Europe would need to come up with “good proposals” for peace if it wants a place at the negotiating table.
“If Europeans want to have a say, make yourself relevant,” Rutte said.
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