The agenda for Friday’s gathering in Dublin was supposed to be artificial intelligence. Leaders went home having settled something far more pressing: who will represent Europe if and when serious negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine get under way.
Rather than naming one envoy, the informal EU summit agreed on a group. According to António Costa, who chairs the European Council, the continent’s negotiating side would consist of the EU institutions together with the E5 – Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Britain, the largest military powers in the so-called coalition of the willing. Brussels adds people from its two main institutions to that line-up. Irish reports suggest it is still undecided whether ministers or national security advisers will fill the national seats.
Getting there took some wrangling. Germany’s Friedrich Merz had initially leaned towards a tighter trio of Berlin, Paris and London. Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, argued that her 2024 mandate made her the obvious choice, and brushed off suggestions that Moscow would object. Europe, she said, gets no say over who sits on the Russian side either. Costa answered with a reading of the treaties that leaves the top representation with himself and Ursula von der Leyen at the Commission, effectively sidelining Kallas.
Asked why Europe needed several people, Costa pointed across the table. Washington is represented by both Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Kyiv sends a delegation of three or four. What matters, he argued, is that the team speaks with a single “united voice”. The choice of messenger, von der Leyen insisted, belongs to Europeans and not to Moscow.
The urgency comes from the calendar. Donald Trump is due to meet Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of next week’s APEC summit in Shenzhen, and several capitals fear a deal struck over Europe’s head. Merz’s message to Washington was blunt: “Please, no surprises!” The Kremlin has signalled it could accept European participation, but only on conditions Kallas called a trap. Leaders meet again in Brussels on 26 and 27 November, when Ukraine’s funding needs for 2027 are also on the agenda.
