DUBLIN — European nations are pressing for a representative to speak for them in negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, fearing that a U.S.-backed process could leave them on the sidelines while Moscow and Washington shape the future of a conflict that has unsettled the continent.
As leaders from the 27-nation European Union gather Friday in Dublin, they are debating whether Europe should be represented by one envoy or several—and who that person or group should be. Senior EU officials and politicians have been mentioned as possible candidates, but no consensus has emerged.
The envoy’s exact mandate is also unclear and disputed. Still, governments from the United Kingdom to Ukraine broadly agree that Europe must have a place in the ongoing talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.
Ukraine wants support from its European allies and is reluctant to leave negotiations solely in the hands of a U.S. administration that has often appeared sympathetic to Moscow’s positions. Russia, meanwhile, opposes direct European involvement, accusing European countries of financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.
European leaders also distrust U.S. President Donald Trump’s willingness to negotiate on their behalf after tense disputes over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.
“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday at the European Political Community meeting in Dublin. “There is no more U.S. support.”
“At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said.
European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will push Trump to endorse a peace settlement that weakens not only Ukraine but also broader European security. Putin has demanded that NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham rejected the idea that Europe is being sidelined in peace negotiations, saying “there are European voices in the room.”
“All the leaders I’ve spoken to today are determined to put a bit of a ring of steel around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of all of this to back him up to the hilt, and that’s what we will do,” he said.
As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries—including the U.K., France and Germany—attended discussions nearby.
Supporters of a single envoy, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that Europe’s absence has allowed individual countries or small groups to conduct freelance diplomacy.
“There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.
Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including a call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which she said could undermine European interests.
She has increasingly pushed for a common EU representative to speak for Europe with “a single, authoritative voice” and requested a decision by Friday in Dublin to be formalized in December in coordination with non-EU partners in Europe such as Britain and Norway.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said that “Europe has to have a coherent negotiating price at the table, but it’s not just the European Union” and called for “a wider European continent perspective” that includes the U.K., Norway, Canada and others.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov argued that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar. If someone takes the initiative to establish contact with the Russian side, those people face ostracism.”
The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?
That has frustrated Washington in the past and present.
After this week’s U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, envoy Jared Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.”
That echoes the famous quote attributed erroneously to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”
France, Germany and the U.K.—the region’s top three economies, collectively known as the European trio or E3—have so far been the most engaged European body in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, it left the EU in 2020.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that the E3 is “a proven format” for diplomacy.
But an E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations, such as those bordering Russia and Belarus on the bloc’s “eastern flank,” which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.
Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Costa’s current role is to represent national leaders. A former prime minister of Portugal, he spent much of the past year visiting capitals across the bloc.
“European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table,” Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. “That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO.”
But earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush backchannel with Moscow.
Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, could also lay claim to the position of envoy.
She said in Dublin that the E3 represents the “big countries” but then asked, “who is representing the European Union?”
“Americans are representing American interests. Europeans are representing European interests,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s foundational treaties are “very, very clear” that she and Costa were appointed in 2024 to represent the bloc in “security matters.”
Kallas, however, has had a bumpy track record with U.S. diplomats as Washington and Brussels sparred over trade and Ukraine. She has also acknowledged issues between her office, the EU’s External Action Service and the Commission.
Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October. A week later, he called Putin with Støre, the Norwegian prime minister. Stubb spoke with Zelenskyy by phone on Tuesday.
Urgency is needed in Europe, said Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, pointing to recent cyberattacks, arson and a drone attack in Leipzig, Germany.
“The threats are real,” he said. “We’re going to see more and more and more because that’s the way how they can stop the support of Ukraine. That’s what they want to achieve.”
