Quotes
What I am going to do is that I am going to tell him basically, you cannot be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark,
Macron said, paraphrasing his message to Trump in a social media Q&A on Thursday
I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it,
Trump said on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Friday.jpg)
I would never have believed that I would have to say something like that on television. But at the very least, after Donald Trump’s statements last week, it is clear that the Americans — at least this part of the Americans in this administration — are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe,
Merz saidWe came very, very close to signing something. And I think we will be using that framework as a guidepost to get a peace deal done between Ukraine and Russia,
Witkoff told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,
Merz said at a televised roundtable after the exit polls also showed huge gains for the extreme-right AfD party.jpg)
You know, they haven’t done anything,
he told KilmeadeThe president understands how to get deals done. Deals only work when they’re good for all the parties. And that’s the pathway that we’re on here.”
He addedWill Trump still be saying Keir is a ‘nice guy’ at the end of it? We don’t know that, but we hope he will respect him,
an aide said
We don’t want to rile Trump, that would be totally counterproductive both to our interests and those of Ukrainian and European security,
one aide saidThe reverse is also true. Weakness leads to war.”
But in an article last week he had gone on to warnWhether it is on Ukraine or on trade or on China, we will need to convince him that America is getting something out of it,
one addedWe need … to build a security plan for Europe at a time when public opinion isn’t ready. And you can’t do that and manage the withdrawal of some 100,000 American soldiers out of Europe. That is why we can’t break [with Trump],
the diplomat added
The United States has thrown down the gauntlet, and the right response is to throw it back with a set of plans on how to respond, and [the Europeans] haven’t done it yet,
said Ivo Daalder, who was U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack ObamaThe president is one of the rare leaders who has real experience [with Trump] and who worked closely with Trump during his first mandate,
said a French presidential aide
It started in Munich [at the Munich Security Conference], the whole adventure of U.S. policy realignment. Then it was reinforced by information [that] different actors received in Riyadh [during U.S.-Russia talks] and what was actually discussed there,
Aaltola said in a phone interviewWe need to internalize that [Trump] can take radically hostile decisions if he’s offended,
said a European diplomat, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topicThis includes a European contribution of some 30,000 troops, with the U.K. and France taking the lead there,
the EU diplomat saidEnough talking, it’s time to act!”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X last week, calling for bold action from Europeans, including using frozen Russian assets to finance aid to Ukraine and strengthening air defenses along EU borders with RussiaI want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up,
Trump saidNobody wants the bloodshed to continue. Nobody, least of all the Ukrainians,
he said Sunday, according to Reuters