Andrew Rettman: EUobserver Foreign Editor says the European Union is trying to stay relevant amid talks between Russia and the US

European nations are expected to show a united front regarding discussions on ending the war in Ukraine. 

An emergency summit of European and NATO leaders is being held in Paris, after being excluded from peace talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia. 

Russia says Europe will have no role in talks with the US. 

EUobserver Foreign Editor Andrew Rettman told Andrew Dickens a number of things will come out of this summit. 

He says they're trying to show they're relevant, that they're stakeholders in this and have some answers on what's next. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the European Union has been holding an emergency security
summit with European leaders in Paris. The meeting was called
to discuss concerns around Huish officials meeting with Russia to
end the war in Ukraine, and that's happening in Saudi.
Andrew Ritman is the EU Observer Foreign editor, and he
joins me. Now, Hello, Andrew, Hi, nice to meet you.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thanks for inviting me on.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's a place, a remarkable meeting, A bit of a
last minute scramble.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Absolutely, yeah. I think Europe has been taken by surprise
at the speed with which the Trump administration has moved
with its Russia plans and as well by some of
its intervention to the Munich Security conference over the weekend.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
So what are they hoping to get out of this?
And by the way, can I just say Donald Trump
has had telegraph what he was going to do for
a very long time. I'm surprised. People were surprised by it.
But now they are meeting, and now they're talking. What
do you think they are hoping to get out of it?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, to come back to your telegraph, I think you know,
Trump says so much and in the end does something
completely different that the fact that he's actually taken action
on this with the meeting in Dubai tomorrow is quite surprising.
But moreover, it's what has been said around it. When
his Defense secretary Pete Hexath came to Brussels last week,

(01:18):
he basically gave away the crown jewels. He said Ukraine
would have to make all the concessions if it wanted
peace with Russia and that Europe wasn't even invited to
the table. So with your question, what are they trying
to achieve the day in Paris, I think they're trying
to show that the United that they're relevant, that the
stakeholders in this, and that they have some answers to

(01:38):
what's coming next.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Something that happened that has not happened for a very
long time in my lifetime is that Sakia Stamer came
out and said he is ready and willing to put
UK troops on the ground in the Ukraine. This is
a very strong stance other leaders prepared to follow.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's a bold move. Yeah, and I think we've heard
similar comments today from the Spanish Primate. The Dutch didn't
rule it out. I think even German chance that Olive
Schultz said he might go for it, which is quite
a big deal given the German Russian history around World
War Two and all the messaging there. Of course, fans
had already floated that bubble a long time ago. But

(02:15):
I think that this is the thing that's going to
come out of the summit today, a pledged by European countries,
including mister Starmer, to put together a peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. Now,
whether we'll actually go forward with that is another matter,
because a European peacekeeping contingent without a US security guarantee.

(02:36):
Experts don't think that's going to scare put in the way.
And Pete, he said, had also spelled out in excruciating
detail that any peacekeeping force made up of NATO allies
on Ukrainian soil won't be covered by Article five. That
means that if Russia attacks them next spring the spring after,
the Americans won't come and bail out the Europeans like

(02:56):
they have done since World War Two.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, well, I understand the meeting just wrapped up, so
we'll wait to see what releases come out of it.
And Andrew Reritman, I thank you so much for giving
us an insight into what is quite a remarkable day
in history. You have to say.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
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