Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 17/Feb 00:38

Europe Scrambles After Exclusion From Ukraine Talks – Analysis

By Frud Bezhan (RFE/RL) -- European leaders will meet on February 17 for an emergency summit to discuss Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. The hastily arranged meeting in Paris is in response to mounting fears that U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia will negotiate an end to the war alone, leaving Ukraine and its European allies on the sidelines. European leaders are expected to present a united front and discuss new proposals to support Ukraine and bolster European security. “There seems to be a group of EU countries who are clear that they are not going to be part of a poorly designed and hasty Trump deal, and who are focused on continuing their support to Ukraine,” said Majda Ruge, senior policy fellow at the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations. Concerns in Europe have intensified after Keith Kellogg, Trump's envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said on February 15 that Europe will not be directly involved in peace talks. On the same day, it emerged that U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia this week to start talks on ending the war -- possibly without Ukraine itself. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 16 arrived in the neighboring United Arab Emirates seeking to boost economic ties after attending the Munich Security Conference. He said he would later travel to Saudi Arabia, but Ukrainian officials said he had no plans to meet with U.S. or Russian officials there. Just days earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was no longer “primarily focused” on Europe’s security, in another blow to the continent. The moves by Washington have triggered alarm and left European leaders on the continent scrambling over how to respond to what they see as Washington’s unilateral approach to ending the Ukraine war. But it is unclear if the continent can overcome its deep divisions and come up with its own concrete strategy to end the Ukraine war and deal with Russia. “Europe has spent more time discussing, making statements, and making calls than actually putting its money where its mouth is and stepping up to give concrete support to Ukraine or to pursue any other policy of its own choosing,” said Ian Garner, a Russian expert at the Warsaw-based Pilecki Institute. European officials have warned that a hurriedly agreed peace or cease-fire deal will undermine Ukraine and wider European security. Europe is the largest financial supporter of Ukraine, even overtaking the United States. But it lags in military support, despite pledges to boost defense spending and arms production in recent years. With the exceptions of Hungary and Slovakia, there is broad support for Ukraine in Europe. But there is also disagreement “Everybody is technically on the same page,” said Garner. “The problem is when you actually look at finer details of the plans, everybody disagrees.” The creation of a European army is a prime example. Some European leaders have called for deploying European military forces to Ukraine to ensure security if a peace deal is agreed. But the idea has been rebuffed by other officials, including EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “All these European leaders are still trapped in potential maybes,” added Garner. “Nobody has come up with a cohesive, comprehensive, and collaborative plan to say, ‘here’s what we would actually be willing to definitely do.’ And so, of course, Trump, Putin, and even Zelenskyy don’t take Europe seriously.” RFE/RL’s Ray Furlong contributed to this report Frud Bezhan is the regional desk editor for Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the Central Newsroom at RFE/RL. Previously, he was a correspondent and reported from Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Turkey. Prior to joining RFE/RL in 2012, he worked as a freelance journalist in Afghanistan and contributed to several Australian newspapers, including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.