Consultations are intensifying between Europeans around Ukraine. Firstly because this country is in difficulty facing Russia, in the war of aggression led by Vladimir Putin since February 2022. Then because the day is approaching when Donald Trump takes office in the White House – next January 20. The future president of the United States has explained on numerous occasions that he would push for a rapid resolution of this conflict, even if at the cost of more or less reciprocal concessions.
However, in the event of negotiations, not only the fate of Ukraine will be at stake: the security of the entire continent will depend on it. In his strategy to restore Russia’s influence as deeply as possible in Europe, Vladimir Putin wants to impose on the kyiv authorities a status of neutrality for their country. A first step towards vassalization and a way of detaching it from the Western bloc.
Conversely, Europeans are committed to “support Ukraine on the irreversible path to full Euroatlantic integration, including membership of NATO” : this was stated by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom as well as the high representative of the European Union, on December 12 . The message is addressed to Moscow, but also to Washington. To make a difference, however, it will take more than declarations.
