Germany Europeans disagree on peacekeeping force at Ukraine crisis summit
Great Britain and France are making progress, Germany is slowing down: at the Paris summit on the war in Ukraine, the Europeans were divided on the issue of a peacekeeping force to secure a possible ceasefire. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the discussions after the meeting as irritating and completely premature and criticized the fact that possible results of peace talks that had not even taken place were being discussed over the heads of the Ukrainians.
17.02.2025, 20:31
SDA
"This is highly inappropriate, to put it bluntly and honestly," said Scholz. It was an "inappropriate debate at the wrong time and on the wrong topic". Scholz made his comments following the informal consultations to which French President Emmanuel Macron had also invited the heads of state and government from the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the heads of the EU and NATO.
Scholz is thus opposing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Macron, among others. Shortly before the meeting, Starmer had come forward and expressed his "readiness and willingness" to send soldiers to the country attacked by Russia if necessary. In a guest article for the Telegraph, he wrote that the UK could play a "leading role" in working on security guarantees for Ukraine. France is also said to have expressed its willingness to send troops some time ago.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reported on very concrete talks "at various levels" concerning the deployment of troops, particularly from France, the UK and Poland - the "three great armies" of Europe. The peacekeeping force should guarantee a future ceasefire and "lasting peace" in Ukraine, he said in an interview on the LCI channel.
Crisis summit following US demands
The main topic at the summit was the question of how Europe should react to the drastic change of course in US Ukraine policy. This aims to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin into negotiations on an end to the war and to transfer responsibility for securing a peace deal to the Europeans.
To this end, Berlin and other European capitals recently received a request to report possible contributions to security guarantees for Ukraine. According to the German Press Agency, the countries are to indicate, among other things, whether they could send soldiers for a peacekeeping force or training programs to Ukraine after the end of the Russian war of aggression. Weapons systems and the question of what is expected of the USA will also be discussed.
At the same time, the Europeans must decide how they want to deal with the fact that the Americans do not see a central role for them in the negotiation process - and are demanding concessions from Ukraine without agreement. In order to facilitate an end to the Russian war of aggression, the US believes that Ukraine should give up its ambitions to join NATO quickly and accept that part of its territory will remain permanently under Russian control.
Shortly before the meeting began, host Macron spoke on the phone with US President Donald Trump. The latter wants to begin negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible on an end to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and high-ranking Russian representatives want to discuss this in Saudi Arabia this week - without the participation of Ukraine or other European representatives. The USA has already made it clear that it does not want to send soldiers to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire.
Disagreement on possible peacekeeping force clear ahead of meeting
The Netherlands and Sweden have also recently shown themselves to be open to sending troops to Ukraine. Spain and Denmark at least no longer categorically ruled out such a step. Contrary to what the French foreign minister has said, Poland is not planning to send soldiers - but supports Macron and Starmer's approach. Before leaving for Paris, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: "We have no plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine, but we will also provide logistical and political support to countries that want to give such guarantees in the future."
Troop numbers unclear
It is unclear how many European soldiers could be sent to Ukraine following a possible peace agreement. As the German Press Agency has learned from negotiating circles, a five-digit figure is being discussed. According to this, a troop strength of 200,000 soldiers brought into play by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj is unrealistic. At the beginning of the debate in December, there was speculation about around 40,000 soldiers.
According to diplomats, the main topic of discussion at the moment is whether and if so, whether European soldiers could be stationed in the western part of the country to train the Ukrainian armed forces. It is also considered extremely unlikely that they would be sent directly to the front line to monitor compliance with a possible peace agreement.
Scholz has been on the brakes since the beginning of the debate about a peacekeeping force. His argument: first of all, there must be a negotiation result involving the Ukrainians, only then can a ceasefire be secured. "Promising Trump something for a deal that we don't even know about would be negligent," according to German government circles.
The Chancellor also has a red line for the deployment of troops: without the involvement of US troops, this is out of the question for him because, in his view, it would divide NATO: "In this context, we will not participate in scenarios in which European and American security fall apart, for example European soldiers are deployed without full US involvement," he argues.
