European leaders are under pressure to settle on a name to represent them in Ukraine peace talks, after US envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters that the Europeans will be present at the next meetings.
Asked by DW during the European Political Community summit in Dublin why Europe should receive only one seat at the table while the United States gets two, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas answered with a wry, ironic laugh, a reaction that captured the frustration among European leaders at having been sidelined so far.
The Dublin gathering of 47 European leaders came on the heels of a diplomatic tour by two advisers of US President Donald Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, who attended talks in Abu Dhabi and then met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The pair then traveled directly to Dublin to debrief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Kallas is among the figures seen as most likely to represent the EU in any future talks to end Russia's war against Ukraine, along with EU Council President Antonio Costa. The bloc has yet to settle on a single figure, in part because many national leaders want to attend themselves. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted Europe would be present, telling reporters: "At the table must be sitting Ukraine, must be sitting the Europeans, must be sitting the Americans, and naturally Russia." Like many other leaders, however, he played down the idea of appointing a special envoy.
Zelenskyy is pressing for European involvement. "Not directly yet, and not yet when the Russians are at the table," he told fellow leaders in Dublin. "But Europeans are already involved. And we need to make sure that Europe becomes a regular part of these negotiations."
The disagreement over who should attend has spilled into the open. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote a sharply critical letter to Costa last week lamenting the lack of unity, writing: "By projecting the image of a Europe that is in disarray, we are merely serving the interests of those who want this war to continue." Leaders even differed on how frustrated they are. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said the situation was creating a "bad mood," while Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs pushed back, saying, "I don't feel that."
Behind the dispute lies a deeper fear: that Washington could accept Russian demands for Europe to reshape its own security, chiefly through the NATO alliance, in exchange for a seat at the table. Putin has said a pledge that Ukraine will never join NATO, and potentially a rollback of the alliance that would remove recent members Finland and Sweden, could be among his conditions. "What do we hear from them [Europeans]?" Putin asked during the Moscow meeting with Kushner and Witkoff. "That once a peace agreement is signed, they will immediately deploy troops in Ukraine. This is a legitimate target for us, so the war will resume immediately."
That is precisely the rhetoric European leaders say they fear most, especially those bordering Russia. "Right now, we are in the [Russian] trap," said Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. "If something is a threat to you, will you discuss your defense with the threat [itself]?" Trump has said publicly he hopes for a "very big, beautiful agreement" that "might involve all of Europe," an approach Zelenskyy described as "a bit strange." Many leaders in Dublin pointed to past agreements they believe Moscow has violated, including the 1975 Helsinki Accords, the 1990 Paris Charter, the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act and, most important in their view, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which bars Russia from using force against Ukraine except in self-defense.
The quarrel over a seat at the talks is also diverting attention from what may be the larger fight inside the EU: how to keep funding Ukraine as the war grinds on. In October, the European Commission identified a €70 billion gap in the funding the bloc had pledged for Ukraine's economy. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has opposed any further financial and military support for Kyiv, while Germany's Merz warned he could block the EU's next seven-year budget unless member states agree to contribute to Ukraine's financing.
