The leaders of France and the UK are this week to make tag-team visits to Washington as Europe attempts to persuade US President Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine in pursuit of a peace deal in the three-year-old war with Russia.
There is an element of good cop, bad cop in efforts by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to salvage US support for Kyiv.
Starmer, reluctant to openly confront Trump, speaks of being a bridge between Europe and the US administration, while Macron has more strongly criticized Trump’s recent statements that echo Russia’s narrative and the US’ moves to negotiate with Moscow while sidelining Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
Both leaders stress Ukraine’s voice and sovereignty must be at the center of any peace talks.
The French president warned Trump against appearing “weak in the face of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin.”
“It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,” said Macron, who is due at the White House today, the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Starmer is set to follow on Thursday.
The trips came after Macron last week called a crisis meeting of European leaders in Paris to discuss the continent’s next steps — and after Trump on Friday claimed Macron and Starmer “haven’t done anything” over the past three years to end the war.
The centrist French leader, known for his bold diplomatic moves, said he would seek to persuade Trump that American and European interests are the same.
“If you let Russia take over Ukraine, it would be unstoppable,” he said.
Starmer, a cautious center-left politician, has avoided directly contradicting Trump or criticizing his actions. The UK joined the US in refusing to sign a joint declaration at an artificial intelligence summit hosted by Macron in Paris this month in what was seen as an attempt to curry favor with Washington.
However, the prime minister has reaffirmed Britain’s support for Ukraine, rejecting Trump’s assertion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is a “dictator” and the president’s suggestion that Kyiv started the war, which erupted when Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022.
Starmer spoke to Zelenskiy on Saturday, expressing “the UK’s ironclad support for Ukraine and commitment to securing a just and enduring peace.”
He said he would stress “safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty” when he speaks to Trump in Washington.
British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on Saturday said it was “time to turn the screws” on Putin, adding that he would today announce London’s largest package of sanctions against Russia since the early days of the war.
Some historians say the idea that Britain can be a transatlantic bridge is built on shaky foundations.
“The ‘special relationship’ has always been more important from the British end,” said University of Oxford history professor Margaret MacMillan said. “When it comes right down to it, great powers tend to do what suits them.”
She said the bottom line for Macron and Starmer “is they want the US to stay involved in Europe. Whether they can achieve that is another matter.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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