EU leaders will continue talks on their diplomatic and financial support for Ukraine today, after Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to “pay attention” to Vladimir Putin’s demands on security.
View image in fullscreenMeeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the Dublin summit. Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/ShutterstockEuropean leaders meeting in Dublin on Thursday rejected calls that there was any need to recreate a European security architecture, while restating that Russia needed to stop attacking Ukraine.
European Council president António Costa summed it up:
“There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Europe had a functioning European security architecture until it was first, gradually undermined, and ultimately destroyed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Speaking to reporters the UK prime minister Andy Burnham said Europe “in the wider sense” i.e not just the EU, would decide on its own arrangements.
“In terms of the wider point, there was a very strong feeling that you know, Russian demands to put the question of European security architecture or European security arrangements into this negotiation – that is not up for negotiation... It is for Europe to decide its own arrangements. Europe and Europe alone. And again, I am talking in the wider sense when I say that.”
Around 40 countries, most of the attendees of the European Political Community summit on Thursday, signed a declaration drafted by France declaring that European states “bear a primary responsibility and are assuming greater responsibility for the security of Europe”.
EU leaders are continuing talks in Dublin on Friday, focusing on AI. But following interventions from Giorgia Meloni and Friedrich Merz, they will also discuss Europe’s role in international peace talks and the question of future financial support for Ukraine.
