Europe pushes for seat at Ukraine peace talks but lacks unified voice

Dublin: European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a US-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.

Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team -- and who should take on the role -- is being debated on Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior EU officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is no consensus yet.

What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the UK to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.


"This needs to be resolved," Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said as he arrived at the summit. "I would hope that today's discussions bring clarity around this," he said. "It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two."

Ukraine is eager for backup from its European allies, as it's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean towards Moscow's views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine's military effort.

European leaders also distrust US President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.

"Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine," French President Emmanuel Macron said at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday. "There is no more US support. At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans," he said.

Europe is broadly aligned but not unified

European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia's borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.

As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.

US envoy Jared Kushner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, "They will have a voice."

"We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table," Kushner said. He said Putin "is willing to give it a try".

Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy.

"There are too many different groupings discussing the issue," she said.

Meloni has criticised a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including an October call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, that she said could undermine European interests.

Martin said European representation at the negotiations "can't just be European Union" because the Coalition of the Willing -- a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine -- "has involved far more than the European Union".

"It's a European continentwide issue," he said, pointing to Norway and the UK's support for Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative. "The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar."

An old question with no clear answer

The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?

That has frustrated Washington in the past and present.

After this week's US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said "if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation".

That echoes the famous question often misattributed to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: "Who do I call if I want to call Europe?"

Potential candidates from within the EU

France, Germany and the UK, the region's top three economies collectively known as the European trio or E3, have so far been the most engaged European body in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, the UK left the EU in 2020.

But an E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations like those that border Russia and Belarus on the bloc's "eastern flank", which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.

Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas.

"European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table," Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. "That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO."

But earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush back-channel with Moscow. The perhaps obvious candidate, however, is Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia.

She laid claim to the envoy role on Friday, saying, "I'm the one who is representing Europe in the foreign and security policy."

"I know that the Russians don't want me, but, you know, do we have a say, who is representing Russia?" she said. "We can't send any person that has no institutional role like the Americans are sending."

Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October.

But some leaders deeply distrust the US-brokered talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was critical of the negotiations, reflecting the pessimism of EU countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.

"In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration," Tusk said on Thursday. "We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it."