War in Ukraine: why are Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron meeting in Brussels this Wednesday?

This Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the French and Ukrainian presidents, Emmanuel Macron et Volodymyr Zelensky, are going to see each other in Brussels.

On the sidelines of a summit with the Balkans

The French president will attend at the end of the day at a summit between the European Union and the Western Balkans in Brussels, from where he will then leave directly in the evening to go on Thursday to the French archipelago in the Indian Ocean devastated by Cyclone Chido. In the Belgian capital, he will meet Volodymyr Zelensky there on the sidelines of the summit with the Balkans, provided the presidency to journalists.

Emmanuel Macron wants to be on the front line in the Ukrainian file. On December 7 in Paris, he organized a meeting, under his aegis, between US President-elect Donald Trump and President Zelensky, for the first time since the Republican’s victory in the November 5 election.

A potentially failed summit on Ukraine…

The head of state was initially expected to participate, Wednesday evening following this summitat an informal meeting organized by the head of the Atlantic Alliance around the Ukrainian president with the leaders of the main European powers, to discuss the war in Ukraine one month before Donald Trump returns to the White House. The heads of the Italian, German and Polish governments, Giorgia Meloni, Olaf Scholz and Donald Tusk, are notably announced there.

But the departure to Mayotte “may thwart the initial intention“Emmanuel Macron to participate too, even if it is not yet completely ruled out that he could attend, said the Elysée. In the event of his absence, he will be represented by the resigning Minister of Affairs foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, responsible for current affairs waiting for a new government In France.

… just like the European Council?

Thursday, while he will be in Mayotte, the French president will also miss, an extremely rare occurrence, the European Council which brings together the leaders of the twenty-seven EU countries. France will be represented by Olaf Scholzwith whom he “exchanged” on Tuesday, according to the Elysée, which evokes a practice established between Paris and Berlin in the event of absence of one of the two leaders at a European summit. The conclusions of the Twenty-Seven were all “almost approved on the eve of the council” and there is therefore no “no negotiation issue” which would require the presence of the head of state, argued an advisor.