THIS WEEK: Ukraine peace talks gather pace and EU holds budget ‘confessionals’
The 'coalition of the willing' will launch their first joint military exercise to rehearse how they will defend post-war Ukraine, days before US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi between Ukraine and Russia.
A summit of the European Political Community on Thursday (12 November) followed a day later by an informal EU leaders’ gathering in Dublin will dominate next week.
The EU summit, at least officially, is supposed to focus on AI. But the elephant in the room is Russia’s war in Ukraine. Delegations from Ukraine and Russia arrive in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for talks mediated by the US and the EU’s absence from the table has been keenly felt.
Though US president Donald Trump approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles worth $2.1bn (€1.8bn) to Ukraine last week, it is unclear how he will approach the Abu Dhabi talks after his Republican party was routed in last week’s mid-term elections, with vice president J D Vance blaming Trump’s Middle East adventurism in Iran.
However, the EU will be heavily represented at a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Marseille on Monday and Tuesday, where the Russia/Ukraine talks will be the main item on the agenda.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas will attend, along with foreign ministers from Germany, France, and Italy.
Following a letter from Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, European Council president António Costa has added a debate on Ukraine to the agenda in Dublin, with a view to ensuring that the bloc speaks with a united voice on the war.
Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.
