EU leaders reject Merkel-Macron push for Putin summit
- France and Germany drop plans for summit with Russia’s president after outcry from EU leaders
- EU-Russia summits ended after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014
The proposal was dropped from the final communique following talks that stretched into the wee hours of Friday, Merkel said as she left the summit venue in Brussels. EU diplomats had earlier said that some countries in Eastern Europe were prepared to veto the plan, such was the strength of their opposition.
“I would have wished for a more courageous step,” Merkel told reporters. “Formats and conditions will be developed for talks with Russia. But not at the leaders’ level.”
“The Kremlin does not understand free concessions,” Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Karins said heading into the talks. “The Kremlin understands power politics.”
The proposal was also publicly criticised by Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, who told reporters that he wouldn’t attend any talks with Putin. Romania’s Klaus Iohannis said it’s too early to talk about a summit with Russia and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas said she was surprised to discover the issue was even on the agenda.