Macron Tells Dublin He Would Serve as Europe’s Envoy to Russia

Asked whether he was available to be Europe’s envoy in talks with Russia, Emmanuel Macron replied that he would “always be at the service of these issues.”

The comments came as he arrived in Dublin on Thursday for the ninth European Political Community summit.

Europe, he said, first needed “a clear and united vision of what it wants for Ukraine and for itself” before choosing a possible envoy.

“The content determines the format,” Macron told reporters. “We must therefore take back the initiative of discussion with Russia, as Europeans, and it is at that moment that the format will be defined.”

A Common Position Comes First

Macron said Europe’s backing for Ukraine was already clear. What still had to be spelled out, he argued, was a peace plan and a proposal for the continent’s future security architecture.

European officials attended only sideline meetings in Abu Dhabi this week, he said, to coordinate positions ahead of talks between American and Russian envoys. In the same Dublin arrival, he also said there was “no more U.S. support” for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Europe to designate a single representative. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last week called on EU leaders to decide who negotiates for the Union, and with what mandate.

Berlin Puts the Table First

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also delayed any appointment. He said it was more important to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table than to name a European envoy.

“What matters is that Russia comes to the table and is ready to engage in discussions. Everything else will follow,” Merz said on arrival in Dublin.

He noted that Europeans were already represented in the E3 of France, Germany and Britain, and the E5 that also includes Poland and Italy. “There is no reason for that to change,” he said.

Washington Presses for One Voice

The debate followed two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, where European delegations were kept off the main table. Afterward, U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said getting Europe to “identify one person to speak on their behalf” would be a bigger achievement than getting Russia to include them.

Kushner and Steve Witkoff later met Putin at the Kremlin, where the Russian president said he wanted an “eternal peace.” They were expected in Dublin to brief Zelensky.

French Ambassador to Russia Nicolas de Rivière told RTVI that a Macron-Putin meeting at December’s G20 summit in Miami was possible if both men attend, but that “there are no such plans yet.” Merz has also said he would not avoid a conversation with Putin there.

Moscow has not yet responded, Anadolu reported.