French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Washington on Monday to talk about Ukraine with US President Donald Trump. In the run-up to the meeting Macron has said he wants to convince Trump to work more closely with Europe to achieve peace in Ukraine and to warn him not to be taken in by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. The European press takes a closer look.
US President Trump has slammed his Ukrainian counterpart and put him under immense pressure. As "a dictator without elections" Volodymyr Zelensky "better move fast or he is not going to have a country left", Trump warned. His attacks come after his call with kremlin boss Putin and the meeting between the US secretary of state and Russian foreign minister in Riyadh. Most commentators in Europe's press reject the accusations in style and content.
At a Ukraine summit on Monday in Paris, the leaders of seven EU countries as well as the UK, the EU and Nato had hoped to agree on a common European position on ending the Ukraine war ahead of the Russia-US meeting in Riyadh. Since then, discussions have focused on the question of deploying European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. Commentators examine the stance of individual countries and Europe as a whole.
Faced with the potential threat from Russia and decreased support from the US, Europe is once again discussing boosting its defence spending. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed softening the EU debt rules for this purpose and Denmark has announced that it will increase its defence spending to more than three percent of its GDP. Most commentators welcome the initiative.
At a meeting of their foreign ministers in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the US and Russia have agreed on initial steps in the direction of a rapprochement, with the resumption of ambassadorial relations and preparations for a summit meeting between presidents Trump and Putin. Negotiators are to seek ways to end to the war in Ukraine and increase economic cooperation. Europe's press analyses the signals.
