Following the drastic change of course in the USA’s Ukraine policy, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a crisis summit in Paris on Monday. The summit focused on the question of how Europe should react to the new situation, but also on a possible European peacekeeping force in the event of a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war (-> current news from the Ukraine war).
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had already announced before the meeting that Britain was “ready and willing” to send troops to Ukraine if the worst came to the worst. There was also agreement from host nation France. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reported on concrete talks at various levels regarding the deployment of troops, in particular from France, the UK and Poland – the three largest armies in Europe. The aim of this peacekeeping force is to “secure a future ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine”, said Barrot.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his disapproval of the plans for an EU peacekeeping force. The discussion was “misleading” and “premature”, said Scholz, who criticized the fact that possible results of peace talks that had not even taken place were being discussed over the heads of Ukraine.
The idea of an EU peacekeeping force is also supported by Sweden and the Netherlands, while Spain and Denmark can also possibly imagine participating. The possible size of the envisaged peacekeeping force was also discussed. Experts such as Colonel Markus Reisner from the Austrian Armed Forces (-> interview with Militär Aktuell) recently suggested a figure of around 150,000 soldiers.
