Leaders of Germany, France, Poland meet to mend rifts over Ukraine war
Al Jazeera
Can Poland’s Tusk help Scholz and Macron, who are divided over sending troops to Ukraine, find common ground?
The leaders of Germany, France and Poland are meeting in Berlin to resolve differences over how to support Ukraine as Russian voters go to the polls in an election that looks set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s reign.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosted French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin on Friday with the three members of the so-called Weimar Triangle set to hold urgent discussions on how best to support Ukraine, which is short on the military resources needed to definitively halt Russia’s two-year invasion of the country.
But simmering disagreements between Macron and Scholz threaten to undermine cooperation between the allies. Glaring divisions between the French and German leaders were laid bare at a gathering of European leaders last month when Macron created controversy by saying sending soldiers to Ukraine could not be ruled out and making pointed comments about allies refraining from being “cowards”.
Scholz responded angrily, saying participants at the conference had agreed there would be “no ground troops” on Ukrainian soil sent by European countries.
On Wednesday, he doubled down on his position, telling parliament that German soldiers participating in the conflict is “a limit that I, as chancellor, do not want to cross”. His position applied to the deployment of army personnel in Ukraine and any potential operational planning in Germany.
