STEPHANIE LECOCQ
At the end of the EU summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) expressed her disappointment with the negative attitude towards a top meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “That saddens me a little,” said the Chancellor on Friday in Brussels. Even during the Cold War, there were always channels for conversation with Russia, stressed Merkel. In their opinion, a “sovereign European Union” must be able to represent its interests vis-à-vis Putin.
Eastern European countries are against the meeting
Germany and France surprised the EU partners on Wednesday with a proposal for possible summit meetings with Putin. Eastern European countries in particular, which traditionally have taken a tough stance towards Russia, rejected this.
This shows that the EU states “do not trust each other so much that we can appear there with confidence and clarity,” Merkel said. “It is undisputed that the Russian President is not an easy partner.”
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed incomprehension about the partners’ no: “The EU must speak to Russia at a high level,” he demanded at a meeting with US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken in Paris