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Angela Merkel says she is “saddened” by EU leaders rejecting the bloc’s idea make the first summit with Vladimir Putin Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. He said he showed “we don’t trust each other very much”.
It was an extremely strange frustration for his self-discipline and a politician who was not singing. However, one highlighted the scars left Franco-German initiative which aroused great emotion and little anger, even among Merkel’s closest allies.
The clash resulted in one of the last EU summits of one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders. Merkel will step down as chancellor this year after 16 years, and this week’s heated debates were not the right delivery that many expected.
“He has miscalculated the impact it could have,” said Ulrich Speck, chief visitor to the German Marshall Fund in the US. “It was a sign that his power was dwindling.”
The EU-Russia summit has been the second foreign policy initiative Merkel to miss this year. The EU-China investment agreement he approved was a major one put on ice in March after the European Parliament punished China with five European parliaments. “Merkel is really a lame duck,” Speck said.
Merkel has shown mastery in her long experience at EU summits by reading the room and securing arguments on her way. But this week, that approach has failed.
Seeing the outrage, he rejected the suggestion of some EU states that he and Macron were making “free concessions” to Russia by pushing for the idea of the summit. “I want to make it clear that such talks with the Russian president are not a kind of reward,” he said in a press conference after the summit.
For Merkel’s political opponents in Germany, the damage done to the queue was highlighted Nord Stream 2, A Berlin-backed pipeline that will carry Russian gas directly to Germany and is believed by many to increase Europe’s confidence in Russian energy.
“The problem is that thanks to NS2, Germany has lost credibility as a representative of European interests,” said Franziska Brantner, a spokeswoman for Europe. “Some EU member states are really wondering whether the German government is acting in the interests of Europe or in favor of German business.”
After the summit, Merkel determined what prompted the idea of a summit in Russia – the main one of which was the show Direct meeting with Joe Biden Putin This month in Geneva.
Considering that the US and Russia have agreed on a framework in their relations to “discuss all conflicting issues”, Merkel said “in these situations, it would make sense for the EU to find formats for talking to Russia as well”.
It was not, he stressed, an account of the “new beginning” of EU-Russia relations, but rather of knowing how to resolve the current conflicts.
“Even in the Cold War. . . we’ve always had communication channels, ”he said. He said some EU countries that continued to talk to the Kremlin, including Germany and France, made more sense for the EU to speak with a single voice.
Diplomats have said Merkel is likely to hold this week’s summit as her last chance to make a closer commitment to the EU before leaving the political stage.
And his initiative had the support of his junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats. “The EU must become a key player in security policy. . .[and]acted on international issues, “SPD finance minister Olaf Scholz told the FT.” And Russia needs to understand and accept EU integration. “
It was not without EU support. While some leaders questioned whether Putin could offer a summit because of his misbehavior, defenders said the downward spiral in Russian relations had more reason to change the EU.
Diplomats say the problem was that the idea was created by his supporters a day before the summit. One marked the gambit as “ill-prepared” and “something that came like lightning from a clear sky”.
Germany also seems to have underestimated the sensitivity of member states that are geographically close to Russia. The Baltic response was particularly strong, with some countries, such as the Netherlands, insisting that they would not sit at the same table with Putin.
However, Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands and a longtime ally of Merkel, said the chancellor’s commitment would not “in any way” tarnish his legacy.
“My position was, in fact, very close to the Franco-German proposal, but I could not agree with the EU27 meeting with Putin. It would be too much of a gift for him,” he told the Financial Times.
The courage of the plan also jeopardized his chances. Russia has not withdrawn its forces from Crimea or eastern Ukraine until the attack begins Alexey Navalny, The leader of the Russian opposition, has further strained relations.
However, this is far from the end of the story. The Czech Republic and the Netherlands have stated that they are not necessarily opposed to a summit between the European Commission and the presidents of the Council and Putin.
And Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said the question has not yet been resolved. “Yesterday wasn’t the right time, but I think we’ll discuss more.”
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