Estonia wants Costa and Kallas to speak for Europe in Ukraine peace talks

Detailed summary

“Both are clearly accountable to EU countries,” Kristen Michal said.

Estonia called for European Council President António Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to represent Europe in Russia-Ukraine negotiations, as leaders grapple with who should have a seat at the negotiating table.

“Europe has already chosen its representatives: Council President António Costa and [High Representative] Kaja Kallas. Both are clearly accountable to EU countries,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told POLITICO.

The matter is set to come up at an informal European Council summit in Dublin on Friday, at the behest of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said in a letter to Costa that Europe’s approach has been “all over the place” and risked prolonging the war. Costa subsequently agreed to prioritize the topic at the talks in Ireland.

Michal said Costa and Kallas’ “mandate comes directly from the Council,” meaning that “there is no need for an ad hoc plan to be agreed between member states first.”

The question of who should speak for Europe has taken on greater urgency as U.S.-led efforts to broker an end to the war gather pace. This week’s three-way talks in Abu Dhabi involved representatives from Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine — with the EU represented by senior civil servants in a separate, wider meeting.

The leaders of Finland and Norway held a 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, in a rare contact between Europe and the Kremlin.

But in a sign of the divisions among leaders about who should lead Europe’s negotiating efforts, the three-way conversation drew sharp criticism from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said she was “skeptical” of the initiative. “I think we should keep Europe united rather than going it alone,” she said.

Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump and one of the main American negotiators with Russia and Ukraine, said this week that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the…

The…

Opening of the article, excerpted from Politico Europe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.