Macron and Merz criticise European Council president's attempts to engage with Russia – Politico

Politico has reported that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised European Council President António Costa at a closed-door meeting of EU leaders over his contact with the Kremlin.

Source: European Pravda, citing Politico

Details: During the closed part of the summit, the leaders of Germany and France made dismissive remarks about the fact that Costa's team had established informal contact with the Kremlin in an attempt to become involved in negotiations on ending the war. The clashes highlighted growing tensions within the EU over its approach to talks with Russia.

The heads of state who oppose Russia most strongly, primarily the Baltic countries as well as Denmark and the Netherlands, rallied behind Macron and Merz. Three officials said some of them expressed unprecedented fury towards Costa.

The discussion on Russia and Ukraine on the evening of 18 June took place without aides or even mobile phones because of the sensitivity of the issue and lasted two hours longer than planned.

The position of France and Germany was that now was not the time for talks with the Kremlin. When that moment comes, they argued, the lead in negotiations should be taken by those two countries and the United Kingdom, the so-called E3.

"I think the [French] president has set the record straight and put things in the right order," a French official said, making clear that Macron had set out his position to Costa during the summit.

Sources said other leaders, "a huge number" of them, took the opposite position, arguing that the EU should take on the role of negotiator and supporting the European Council president.

"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. "If he [Putin] shows a willingness to negotiate, then I believe we will have to decide again how we should proceed."

An anonymous European diplomat said Costa had acted "highly unprofessional" because he had concealed the extent of his contact with Russia, which only became clear from media reports on 17 June. Several leaders learnt about the calls only after they appeared in the media and were angered by this.

Sources said Costa's office had warned Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the European Commission ahead of conversations with Russia, although other diplomats said the German side had not been informed.

Background:

• At the European Council Summit in Brussels on 18 June, António Costa explained to EU leaders why he had initiated the resumption of diplomatic contact with Russia.
• Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said António Costa's attempts to establish diplomatic contact with Russia were wrong.

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