Europe and US must not be divided over plan for peace in Ukraine, Scholz says – Europe live

Scholz spoke about how Europe must continue to support Ukraine and reassure Kyiv it can rely on Europe’s backing.

“We welcome that there are talks about a peace agreement, but for us it is clear this cannot be a diktat,” he said.

He also said that Ukraine must be allowed to defend itself, continue on the path to join the European Union, and have own strong army. He said these matters are not up for negotiations.

Scholz also returned to the idea of reforming the EU’s fiscal rules, suggesting that any spending above 2% GDP on defence should be excluded from existing restrictions.

He says new sources of financing are required so that further support for Ukraine does not come through cuts to domestic budgets and public services.

The German chancellor is also once again asked by the idea of deploying European troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force and he repeats the earlier line that such discussions are premature.

He says he is irritated by such suggestions as they are speculative and get ahead of any peace talks, dismissing them as “highly inappropriate.”

Scholz also says there can be no rift between Europe and the US on security, as he stresses the importance of the Nato alliance.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz is briefing the press after the meeting now.

He just said that no diktat can be imposed on Ukraine, and stressed that Europe should continue to support Ukraine, Reuters reports.

We will bring you further lines soon and you can watch his press conference in German below.

Jakub Krupa

So the front doors to the Élysée are now closed as European leaders discuss how to respond to Trump and Putin and what to put forward as their plan for Ukraine – oh, to be a fly on the wall!

Just to give you an idea on what’s next, the talks are expected to run for about two hours (wouldn’t bet on it at all), and many leaders are expected to speak to the media afterwards.

We will obviously bring you all the latest when it happens.

French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with US president Donald Trump ahead of an informal meeting of European leaders in Paris on Ukraine, a French presidency official told Reuters.

First European leaders are expected at the Élysée Palace soon for today’s meeting, which is expected to start around 4pm CET (3pm GMT).

Chinese foreign minister visits Dublin in push to soften relations with Europe

Lisa O’Carroll

in Dublin

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has arrived in Ireland after spending a weekend in Munich positioning the country as Europe’s friend.

He is meeting the taoiseach Micheál Martin and foreign minister Simon Harris this morning before heading to New York to chair a UN security council on Monday.

Ireland, which is EU headquarters for Tiktok, Shein and Temu, is the only other country apart from the UK the foreign minister has visited.

Although China wasn’t the main dish at the Munich security conference Wang’s round of meetings with leaders including Olaf Scholz, Germany chancellor hopeful Friedrich Merz, and Mark Rutte, was seen as a deliberate attempt to capitalise on the rupturing of the US-European relationship and present itself as an ally of Europe.

The EU last year imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs, something staunchly opposed by the Germany industry and, in turn, the government which voted against them.

Wang’s meetings with German leaders, and now Irish leaders, will be seen in some as a further moves to soften relations with Europe which remains one of its most important markets.

The European Chamber of Commerce in China, which represents 1700 companies manufacturing there, however warns that the EU is losing out to Beijing on foot of lack of demand for the amount of goods it is pumping out.

Such over capacity has led to the EV tariffs and the Chamber’s president, Jens Eskelund, warns that the trade imbalance is only going to grow.

“There’s almost zero growth in the European economy, and still China manages to grow export by 13% in the first 11 months of 2024 which is actually quite spectacular, whereas European exports to China declined by 9%. And Europe is not alone. If you look at other big manufacturing economies, United States, Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, you know, they also decrease the export of manufactured goods.

“It seems to indicate this is not about European weakness, it affects all countries that are losing to China and there will be employment consequences to that and that is something China needs to be sensitive to,” said Eskelund.

Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof – who will also take part in today’s Paris meeting – signalled his openness to discussing a deployment of troops to Ukraine, but with heavy caveats.

In remarks reported by Telegraaf over the weekend, he said that such as a discussion would need to be “conducted properly” and involve the parliament, but stressed that he was “not negative” about it as “we understand that Europe has to do something here.”

But he noted that any such operation would need to be backed by the US.

If not earlier, we are likely to hear more from him on Tuesday as he will join his defence and foreign ministers in a parliamentary debate on supporting Ukraine.

European Union officials have no mandate for talks in Paris on Monday on Europe’s role in any Ukraine ceasefire, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico said, adding the discussions did not concern the EU and their participation hurt confidence in the bloc.

He said in a statement issued by the government office that the issue of troops in Ukraine was only for the UN or through bilateral deals and “is a topic with which the EU has nothing to do and should not comment.”

German chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that any discussion of European troops taking part in a peacekeeping force in Ukraine is premature.

In comments reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Scholz said that “unfortunately we are still a long way off” that moment, and added that “it’s quite clear that a very strong Ukrainian army, even in peacetime, must be at the core” of any solution.

Reuters said he also spoke about the European security more broadly, saying that supporting Ukraine and its army will be “a great task for Europe, for the US, and international alliance partners.”

“We have to make sure that Europe overcomes the challenges of the future in a strong and sovereign manner and with its back straight,” Scholz told reporters on the sidelines of an election campaign event in Kassel, ahead of his departure for the French capital.

The Danish government is looking to advance multi-billion investments in defence, effectively increasing its defence spending for 2025 and 2026 to 3% GDP, according to the Danish daily Berlingske.

The weekly Weekendavisen, which also reported the plans, said that the priority investments would be picked by the acting Chief of Defense in the high command of the Armed Forces, Michael Hyldgaard.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is expected to take part in an hour-long questions session in the Danish parliament on Tuesday, where she is likely to get asked about the country’s reaction to developments in Munich over the weekend and her participation in today’s informal Paris summit.

Speaking in the last hour, she told reporters that Europeans “must increase military support for Ukraine, produce more, and do it faster”.

She said she sensed “a new European determination … a drive that is necessary” to respond to the challenge, Berlingske reported.

After his press conference earlier (13:01), Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has now made further comments – unusually, this time in English – on social media, warning that Europe should not shy of making necessary defence commitments now as it would have to “spend 10 times more if we don’t prevent a wider war.”

He once again points to Poland’s track record in this matter, as the country spends 4.7% of its GDP on defence, way above the Nato target of 2%.

Here is what he said:

If we, Europeans, fail to spend big on defence now, we will be forced to spend 10 times more if we don’t prevent a wider war.

As the Polish PM I’m entitled to say it loud and clear, since Poland already spends almost 5% of its GDP on defence. And we will continue to do so.

Pope Francis has a “complex clinical picture” with a “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract,” which will require further hospitalisation, his spokesperson confirmed.

There was no timeframe given for his hospitalisation, but spokesperson said the complexity of his symptoms “will require an appropriate hospital stay.”