Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is coming back to the White House, and this time, he has a phalanx of European leaders backing him up.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz all introduced that they might accompany Zelensky when he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is coming back to the White House, and this time, he has a phalanx of European leaders backing him up.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz all introduced that they might accompany Zelensky when he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday.
The primary three names on that listing will probably be notably vital in terms of making a case for Ukraine’s finest pursuits to Trump, whose emphasis on interpersonal relationships drives a lot of his decision-making.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb
Stubb has cast a detailed relationship with Trump in current months (partly over Trump’s admiration for Stubb’s excellent golf game), which has given him a gap to warning Trump towards trusting Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I can talk what Europeans or Zelensky assume to Trump, after which I can talk what Trump thinks to my European colleagues,” Stubb instructed the Wall Road Journal in a current interview.
Because the chief of Finland, a rustic that shares an 830-mile border with Russia and is NATO’s second-newest member, Stubb has a familiarity and data base that goes effectively past putts and birdies to persuade Trump that he is aware of what he’s speaking about in terms of Russia and European safety.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen
Von der Leyen doesn’t take pleasure in fairly the identical shut bond with Trump, however she is coming off an enormous current trans-Atlantic win: the European Union’s trade deal with the USA, which gave Trump not solely a 15 % tariff on most European items despatched to U.S. shores but in addition a dedication for the EU to speculate a whole lot of billions of {dollars} within the U.S. economic system (together with $750 billion in its vitality sector) over the subsequent few years. Trump additionally appears to respect her—forward of commerce negotiations this 12 months, as an illustration, the U.S. chief praised her, telling reporters that she’s “so implausible.” Given the Trump administration’s tendency to take care of Europe as a monolith on points resembling navy spending and help for Ukraine, von der Leyen’s position representing 27 European nations can also be more likely to show helpful in presenting a united entrance to Trump.
NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte
Rutte, in the meantime, has proved expert at some of the surefire methods into Trump’s good graces, showering the U.S. president with flattery (together with a reference to him as “daddy”) and rolling out the metaphorical pink carpet for him throughout this 12 months’s NATO summit in The Hague in June. It appears to have labored—although Rutte’s corralling of European commitments to extend protection spending actually helped—and Trump got here away from the summit saying he felt “in a different way” about his earlier skepticism of the alliance. “I left right here saying that these folks actually love their nations, it’s not a rip-off, and we’re right here to assist them shield their nation,” he stated.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Meloni is in some methods essentially the most Trumpian of all of the European leaders flying into Washington. She leads the same right-wing authorities in Italy and has been repeatedly tagged within the media with the now-coveted title of “Trump whisperer.” It bears mentioning that others have additionally been known as that, together with Macron and Rutte, however Meloni’s relationship with Trump has had fewer hiccups than most.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
The leaders of three of Europe’s largest and most influential economies will even be in attendance to emphasize that Zelensky and Ukraine have their unwavering help. Starmer was the primary of a half-dozen leaders to have efficiently negotiated a commerce take care of Trump. Macron’s camaraderie with Trump dates again to each males’s first terms in workplace practically a decade in the past however has seen some tense moments in current months. Merz solely got here to energy this 12 months and has not had the time to construct a bromance with Trump, although he has rapidly emerged as certainly one of Zelensky’s closest confidants in Europe. His modifications to Germany’s fiscal debt limits to permit larger protection spending actually gained’t harm, both.
Collectively, Europe’s A-team will probably be aiming to water down the influence of Trump’s Friday meeting in Alaska with Putin, the place the U.S. president rolled out a literal pink carpet, held three hours of ultimately inconclusive talks with out committing to additional sanctions on Russia, and is now pushing for a broader peace settlement quite than the speedy cease-fire Ukraine and others—together with Trump himself—beforehand known as for.
This publish is a part of FP’s ongoing protection of the Trump administration. Observe alongside here.
