The G7 produced<\/a> nine joint declarations and seemingly reaffirmed more than just the bare minimum of western unity that has been possible of late. The leaders\u2019 statement on geopolitical issues included strong language on Ukraine. The G7 promised<\/a> \u201cto increase the delivery of air defence capacities, additional systems and interceptors, and long-range capabilities\u201d and \u201cto increase the pressure on the Russian war economy\u201d.<\/p>\n \n Yet, it fell short on concrete provisions and timelines. And it notably lacked the commitment to the \u201crobust and legally binding security guarantees\u201d and \u201cthe deployment of the Multinational Force \u2013 Ukraine\u201d that France, Germany and the UK (the \u201cE3\u201d) had emphasised in their joint declaration<\/a> with Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky on June 7.<\/p>\n The E3 and Ukraine mini-summit showed European diplomatic coordination at its most effective. \u00c9vian, by contrast, showed how little of that coordination carries into the decisions that ultimately matter.<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s struggle for relevance is also obvious in relation to Ukraine. The last meaningful \u2013 if hardly constructive \u2013 negotiations occurred in the so-called \u201cGeneva track\u201d<\/a> in February. Mediated by Trump\u2019s Witkoff-Kushner team (which was also involved in talks with Iran), this brought Russia and Ukraine together for talks. <\/p>\n But while Washington reported \u201cmeaningful progress\u201d, Zelensky commented that \u201csensitive political matters \u2026 have not yet been sufficiently addressed\u201d and called for European to be involved in the next round of talks. This has not happened.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Europe\u2019s own efforts also failed. Putin immediately rejected the call from E3 and Ukraine for direct talks. This was reinforced in a June 19 essay penned<\/a> by Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, accusing Europe of complicity in the 2014 political crisis in Ukraine which ousted the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, and precipitated the conflict. He added they had sabotaged any attempts at peace.<\/p>\n But the EU was already at loggerheads with itself. Earlier that day, EU leaders gathering for a summit in Brussels discovered<\/a> that Ant\u00f3nio Costa, the European Council president, had instructed his office to reach out to the Kremlin \u2014 without consulting member states \u2014 to lay the groundwork for potential peace negotiations with Russia over Ukraine. Their reaction ranged from surprise to outrage. Germany\u2019s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and Macron both publicly pushed back<\/a> against Costa. Macron stated that<\/a> \u201che [Costa] cannot represent [EU states] when security guarantees are at stake\u201d.<\/p>\n The episode was damaging for reasons that go well beyond procedural embarrassment. The spectacle of European leaders publicly repudiating their own council president will have given Moscow the satisfaction of knowing that Europe still cannot speak with a single voice. <\/p>\n The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, tried to bring the message under control. At her press conference after the EU leaders\u2019 summit, she noted that \u201csooner or later Russia will need to come to the negotiating table, and when that comes we need a united European message to President Putin\u201d<\/a>. That ambition, however, contrasts sharply with the reality of the earlier Costa episode.<\/p>\n Diplomatic embarrassment is not the only issue when it comes to how quickly Europe will be able to close the persistent gap between ambition and reality.<\/p>\n On June 8, the German government formalised its withdrawal<\/a> from the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the \u20ac100 billion (\u00a386 billion) joint fighter jet project launched in 2017 as the flagship expression of Franco-German defence ambition. FCAS also included engines, sensors and a digital intelligence network known as \u201ccombat cloud\u201d.<\/p>\n One point of contention was reportedly the leadership role played by French aerospace giant Dassault. Germany wanted more of a leadership role and the partners are reported to have had divergent visions of the end product. <\/p>\n
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\n Macron plays \u2018Trump whisperer\u2019 as the US president signs Iran ceasefire deal after a successful G7 summit<\/a>
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\nA unified approach<\/h2>\n
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