EU leaders have agreed that the bloc will be represented at any future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine by the E5-format countries.
As Politico reports, these will be Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland, represented at the level of national security advisers, alongside representatives of the European Commission and the European Council.
The decision was taken on 13 November at an EU leaders’ summit in Dublin, following several weeks of internal disputes over who exactly should speak for Europe in talks on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The agreement was reached the day after US special envoy Steve Witkoff said that the Russian president was open to Europe taking part in the next round of talks.
On the eve of the summit, on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking with world leaders in Dublin, urged EU governments to step up their involvement in the peace process. He stressed that Europe must become a full and permanent participant in these negotiations.
- According to US representative Jared Kushner, Russia has agreed to involve European partners in the next round of talks. This will make it possible to discuss not only territorial issues but also Europe’s future security architecture after the war ends.
- Ukraine has long insisted on the need to involve Europe, but the United States and Russia had not shown readiness to do so. In the previous round of talks, US representatives agreed on the importance of European participation; until then, Europeans had taken part only in consultations, not in direct negotiations.
- Kushner stressed that broader agreements on European security will not be made without taking Ukraine’s security interests into account. Discussions on security and territory will proceed in parallel.