Merkel and Draghi in the spotlight: The EU has yet to decide on a candidate to negotiate with Putin
20 May 15:04
The European Union is considering candidates who could serve as its representative in potential negotiations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin regarding an end to the war in Ukraine. The most promising candidate for this role is considered to be former European Central Bank President and ex-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, writes the British newspaper Financial Times, citing sources, reports "Komersant Ukrainian".
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Other candidates include former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and two Finnish presidents—Alexander Stubb and his predecessor Sauli Niinistö. According to the Financial Times, EU foreign ministers will meet in Cyprus next week to discuss this issue. The newspaper’s sources also report that Ukraine and the United States support the idea of an EU representative participating in potential negotiations with Russia. Several FT sources emphasized that Washington understands that the Trump administration’s attempts to end hostilities in Ukraine “are not working.”
Merkel: Negotiations with the Kremlin Should Be Led by Current Politicians
A high-ranking Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would like the European Union’s side of the negotiations to be led by “someone like Draghi” or “a strong, active head of state.”
For her part, Angela Merkel stated that she does not see herself in the role of a negotiator with Putin and that current politicians should represent the EU’s interests.
As a Financial Times source in Brussels explained, although former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö is “one of the few Europeans who has maintained a working relationship with Putin” since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is “very unhappy” about his country’s accession to NATO.
“I think it should be someone from a country like the Netherlands or Portugal, which doesn’t have the same history as Eastern European countries,” the publication quotes a high-ranking European official as saying.
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