The "wind of unity" is blowing through Paris

Frankfurter Rundschau The "wind of unity" is blowing through Paris Stefan Brändle • 39 million • 3 minutes reading time Macron invites and Europe's heavyweights are looking for a common - and sustainably robust - response to the "Trump-Putin axis" The leaders of Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands accepted the invitation of their French colleague, President Emmanuel Macron, to Paris for a special summit on Monday. The aim was to find a unified response to Trump's affront from the weekend. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa provided active assistance in the Elysée. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, however, first wanted - like a true chief diplomat - to "de-dramatize" the "working meeting". No easy undertaking in view of the anger - yes, the rage in Paris over the ultra-right populism of the US participants in the Munich Security Conference. As a reminder: Donald Trump wanted to end the Ukraine war exclusively with the aggressor Vladimir Putin. Without Europe. On Monday, Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg confirmed that in Riyadh, where the Americans and Russians want to prepare their negotiations this Tuesday, only Ukraine will be at the table. All others will be admitted as observers at most. In Paris, where US dominance in NATO has always been viewed critically, the indignation is reaching boiling point. Nicole Gnessoto of the Jacques Delors Institute said that the post-war transatlantic relationship between the US and Western Europe had "broken" - and "definitely" after 80 years. Former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton added that the brutal behavior of the US administration was "one of the most serious moments in Europe's post-war history." The newspaper "Le Monde" called for Europe to take decisive action against the "Trump-Putin axis". An official announcement from the special summit was not planned - which alone made it clear how serious the situation is. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had already declared his willingness to send British troops to Ukraine to ensure lasting peace - even at the risk of "putting them in danger". But Starmer also made it clear that these must be peacekeepers who will be stationed after the fighting has ended - not an intervention army. Even Sweden, which has not even been a NATO member for a year, could imagine sending peacekeepers. "We must first negotiate a just and sustainable peace," Foreign Minister Maria Malmer said. This peace agreement must ensure that "Russia cannot simply withdraw, mobilize new forces and attack another country." Those "other countries" are first and foremost the Baltic countries, which Denmark represented in Paris. Others are completely dismissing the idea. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that a debate about such troops is "premature". Poland and Spain are also not considering it for the time being. But this does not necessarily hide fundamental differences like in 2024, when Macron brought up the idea of ​​sending ground troops. Warsaw and Madrid want to contribute financially to a post-war solution in Ukraine. Such commitments are important at the moment because they meet Trump's demand for European participation in a Ukraine peace. Foreign Minister Barrot therefore felt a "wind of unity blowing" in Paris. This despite more severe headwinds from EU and/or NATO members - some of which are clearly pro-Russian. Smaller EU members such as Slovenia were also not particularly happy about being left out. Macron, however, had made it a point that the summit should not be held under the EU flag. This was done in order to be able to bring Great Britain into the European boat despite Brexit. The host also wanted to avoid the inevitable tensions of a 27-member EU meeting. In an emergency, Commission President von der Leyen could have spoken for all 27, apart from members such as Hungary. According to unofficial sources, a major European bond of up to 500 billion euros was also discussed at the Paris summit. It could be used to militarily arm the continent against any possible Russian aggression. It is unclear whether the EU would take on the debt. Berlin has so far been against this French proposal.