BRUSSELS ― Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz struck out against the EU for opening up communication with Vladimir Putin, putting the leaders of Europe’s two largest countries on collision course with a large part of the rest of the bloc.
In an unexpectedly discordant late-night summit in Brussels ― the first since 2010 without longtime contrarian ex-Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ― the French president and the German chancellor scorned efforts by European Council President António Costa, who acts on behalf of all 27 governments, to reach out to the Kremlin, according to five EU diplomats and officials briefed on the behind-closed-doors conversation. Significantly, other leaders took Costa’s side.
The clashes bring to light simmering tension at the heart of the EU over its approach to Russia and who should talk on Europe’s behalf.
Leaders from some of the most staunchly anti-Russia countries, as well as Denmark and the Netherlands, rallied behind Macron and Merz, with some displaying unprecedented fury with Costa, three of the officials said.
“The European Union cannot assume the role of mediator in these negotiations,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal told POLITICO. “Suggestions that alternative channels or backdoor diplomatic tracks are needed are misguided … History offers a clear warning about attempts to pursue alternative negotiating frameworks with dictators.”
The EU has been discussing for months what sort, if any, communication it should have with Putin, and if so, who should lead it. The urgency has increased since U.S. President Donald Trump struck his provisional peace deal with Iran and signaled at the G7 summit in France earlier this week that his attention was turning back to Ukraine.
Costa’s chief of staff, Pedro Lourtie, contacted officials in Moscow twice over the past few weeks, five officials said. With U.S.-led attempts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine appearing deadlocked, European capitals have been divided over how much to prioritize diplomacy over helping Ukraine to win on the battlefield.
Setting record straight
Thursday night’s discussion on Russia and Ukraine ― held without aides or even cellphones because of the sensitivity, and which lasted two hours longer than scheduled ― revealed the emergence of two main camps.
The position of Macron and Merz is that the time is not right to talk to Putin, and when that moment comes, the “E3” of France, Germany and the U.K. should take the lead.
“I think the [French] president has set the record straight and put things in the right order,” a French government official said, signaling that Macron had made his case to Costa during the summit.
Other leaders ― “a huge number,” according to one official from an EU country ― took the opposite stance, saying it was the EU’s role and backing Costa.
“The first question is whether Putin wants to negotiate. Until then … no one other than Costa can represent the European Union,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told POLITICO when exiting the talks. “If he [Putin] shows a willingness to negotiate, then I believe we will have to decide again how we should proceed.”
All officials and diplomats were granted anonymity to talk about the behind-closed-doors discussions.
E3, E5 or EU?
Thursday evening’s summit exposed several faultlines: In addition to the Costa vs. E3 divide, Italy and Poland (forming an informal “E5”) were frustrated by their exclusion from initial talks between the E3 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the summit, two of the officials said. Other EU officials questioned why the European Council should take on the mantle on behalf of the bloc rather than the European Commission or External Action Service, the EU’s foreign policy wing.
Merz’s message to his fellow leaders was that while Costa represented the EU he should not act as a mediator, according to a diplomat of a major European country briefed on the discussion. Although Merz wanted to avoid an open conflict with Costa around the summit table, he made it clear to him “in other ways,” according to the diplomat.
Costa was “highly unprofessional,” the diplomat said, because he concealed the extent of his contact with Russia, which only became clear in media reports on Wednesday.
Some countries were “furious” about the Russia outreach, according to a European diplomat working on the issue. Several leaders learned about the calls only after they appeared in the media and were angry about it, a further three diplomats said.
Costa’s team said the contacts “had the mere objective of establishing a channel of communication in order to, when the moment comes, have a diplomatic channel with Russia to defend EU’s interests,” adding that they were “brief” and contained no substance.
Costa’s cabinet did inform Germany, France and the U.K. and the Commission before the calls took place, one of the diplomats said. Three other diplomats, however, said Berlin had not been warned.
‘Taking action’
In order for talks with Moscow to work, “we need to have system of mandating and debriefing,” another EU diplomat said.
Portuguese Lourtie, who has a reputation in Brussels as something of a dealmaker, addressed ambassadors from the EU’s 27 governments on Wednesday when news of the calls, first reported by Bloomberg, became public. While complaining that they had been leaked to the media, he justified them by saying they followed a direct request by Zelenskyy for Europe to get involved in the peace negotiations, according to another EU diplomat with knowledge of the meeting.
“We need a format that is capable of taking action,” said a senior German official, adding that such a format would get its “legitimacy” from “involving the other European partners as closely and as trustingly as possible” as well as coordinating closely with Kyiv and Washington.
Poland and Italy have also pushed for a role in the talks. Merz is hosting Macron, and the prime ministers of the U.K., Poland and Italy in Berlin on Wednesday, discussions that diplomats say will likely include the question of dialog with Russia.
Carlo Martuscelli, Hans von der Burchard, Seb Starcevic, Max Griera, Zoya Sheftalovich, Gerardo Fortuna, Ferdinand Knapp and Milena Wälde contributed reporting.