German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited the leaders of France, Poland, Italy and the United Kingdom to the summit of the so-called E5 group. It is to be held next week in Berlin, he said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, without giving a date. TASR informs about it based on the report of the DPA agency.
The summit meeting of the E5 should follow up on this week’s summits – after the G7 meeting in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. In addition, the leaders of the five states are to assess preparations for the NATO summit in the German capital, which will be held on July 7 and 8 in Ankara, DPA noted.
Poland, as the only E5 country, was not represented at the G7 summit. Recently, the highest level meetings have been held primarily in the E3 format with the participation of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, i.e. countries that, according to the DPA, are currently cooperating to revive diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Given the variety of formats, Merz said he always tries not to exclude anyone. At the same time, he added that, together with the larger member states that are members of the G7 and the European Council, he wants to take on “a bit of a leading role.” “Always after coordination with others, always with full transparency of what we do,” the German chancellor added.
E3 leaders last met on June 7 in London and together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the latest developments in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded to this meeting by declaring that Poland will not consider binding any agreements on the future of Ukraine or the security of the region that are made without the participation of Warsaw.
