Europe’s Leaders Hold Emergency Meeting as US Pushes on Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz before an informal summit of European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine and European security at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Feb. 17, 2025. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron called leaders from European Union nations and the UK for an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace on Monday to discuss demands of the new U.S. administration, the Russia–Ukraine war, and security on the continent.

The Paris discussion follows a diplomatic push by the Trump administration that has bypassed the Europeans, dealing directly with the Kremlin to commence talks to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

While U.S. President Donald Trump during his election campaign said he would move to bring the conflict between the two former Soviet states to a swift conclusion, his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to blindside the rest of NATO and the Ukrainians.

Speeches by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during their visits to Europe last week questioned the continent’s commitment to its own security, democracy, and free speech.

Last week, Macron said their remarks and rebukes were like “electroshock” to the European system.

On Monday afternoon, the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the European Union will discuss how to deal with Europe’s security going forward.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will also be in attendance.

French and German officials have both said no firm decisions are expected to emerge beyond a show of unity by the leaders.

“There is a wind of unity blowing over Europe, as we perhaps have not felt since the COVID period,” said Macron’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot.

EU nations and the UK have said they are all in on supporting the Volodymyr Zelenskyy-led government in Kyiv however they can.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is expected to meet Trump in the United States next week, said on Sunday that the continent was facing a “once-in-a-generation moment” for its collective security and must work closely with Washington to achieve this.

He said Britain was ready to play a leading role in delivering security guarantees for Ukraine, including being prepared to put its “own troops on the ground if necessary.”

“The end of this war, when it comes, cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again,” he wrote in London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Some EU nations, including France, are calling for an agreement on joint borrowing for massive defense projects, while others are insisting it is the task of the nations that are behind in spending to get to the 2 percent threshold first.

This issue is also set to be discussed in Paris.

In an indication that there is a willingness on the part of the EU to boost defense expenditure, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen proposed exempting defense from the bloc’s limits on government spending.

Von der Leyen said the lifting of restrictions on defense spending would be done in the same way borrowing limits were removed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I believe we are now in another period of crisis which warrants a similar approach. This is why I can announce that I will propose to activate the escape clause for defense investments,” she said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Von der Leyen said EU nations were spending on average around 2 percent of their GDP but that they needed to increase it to above 3 percent.

That would still be well below the 5 percent Trump has urged NATO countries to spend.

There is a large disparity in defense spending within the bloc, however, with Poland spending 4.12 percent of its GDP whereas Spain last year contributed just 1.28 percent.

In a move that may have assuaged some European fears on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a negotiation process for ending the war in Ukraine had not yet begun in earnest and that if talks advanced, Kyiv and other European countries would be brought in.

In an interview with CBS, Rubio said Ukraine and Europe would be part of any “real negotiations” to end Moscow’s war.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that the significance of the phone call between Putin and Trump was that now, Russia and the United States would speak about peace rather than war.

Talks between Washington officials and representatives from the Kremlin are set to begin in Saudi Arabia this week.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.