The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, held a second informal meeting with the leaders of EU countries, as well as Canada, Iceland, and Norway. According to him, all summit participants expressed their support for Ukraine and confirmed their readiness to take responsibility for security in Europe.
The French leader shared this information on the social media platform X.
During the meeting, they discussed ways to end the war in Ukraine. The peace initiatives from Europe and Canada will be based on three key principles:
- Ukraine must be involved in all processes, and its rights should be guaranteed;
- Peace must be sustainable and accompanied by reliable security guarantees;
- European security issues should also be taken into account.
Macron emphasized the need to increase spending on defense and security. He stated that relevant decisions will be made in the coming days and weeks.
In an interview with the French newspaper La Dépêche du Midi, the President of France declared that Russia poses an "existential threat" to Europe, underscoring that "without Ukrainians and Europeans, there will be no lasting peace."
Earlier, on February 17, Macron initiated an emergency meeting of EU leaders following reports of negotiations between the US and Russia regarding ending the war without the involvement of Ukraine and Europe. One of the main topics was the potential deployment of European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.
According to the Financial Times, Macron proposed placing peacekeepers along the future line of demarcation. However, this initiative was not supported by Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland.