Merkel stirs division at European summit by opening up to Putin

Merkel celebrates the last potentially chancellor’s European summit with a controversial plan: reopen direct dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. This plan was launched with French President Emmanuel Macron on the eve of the summit, but without informing other member states and European Council President Charles Michel. This led to great frustration in many capitals.

Moreover, the Franco-German proposal is much more positive than the strategy that European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell put on the table a week ago at the request of European leaders. Borrell prepares for More negative spiral with Russia. He wants to keep lines open with Moscow if it suits European interests, for example regarding the climate or consulting with the citizens’ movement in Russia. But he is asking Europe to respond forcefully if Moscow violates human rights or international rules, and he wants to boost the union’s resilience by, among other things, better mapping shady financial flows from Russia.

Diplomats from the European Union met late last night in an attempt to reconcile Russia’s two plans to some extent. However, European leaders will have to answer one crucial question at the summit: Is Europe reviving the tradition of regular high-level meetings with Russia? The union broke off those talks in 2014, after Russia’s occupation of Crimea and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.

When she reached the top, Merkel defended her plan. Conflicts are best resolved when you talk to each other. She refers to the meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Putin last week in Switzerland. Macron on the same page: “Europe must defend its interests and not falter in a policy of reaction.”

Moreover, the joint move appears to have been led by the United States. It was no coincidence that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was passing through Berlin and Paris this week. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is one of the few EU leaders who fully supports the Franco-German plan: “Like Merkel and Macron, I am in regular contact with Putin. We have a form for such a dialogue. We must not leave the dialogue with Russia to the United States.

The Baltic states in particular react strongly to the Franco-German proposal. The Kremlin understands power politics. “Moscow does not see concessions that cost nothing as a sign of strength,” Latvian Prime Minister Krishanis Kariche said. He also called on Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausuda to be “extremely cautious about a radical shift in dealing with the Putin regime”. He warns that this could be very harmful to the union’s eastern European neighbors. “It’s like asking the bear to guard the jar of honey.”

And there is little enthusiasm for such a bend in more Western member states. “At some point a dialogue with Russia will be necessary, but it is too early,” the diplomatic circles said. “We first need to know what we want to achieve with such a summit.”

Nor is Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte a party to the “wiedergutmachung”. He said that I had no objection to a meeting between Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with Putin. But I will not participate in a summit with all the leaders of the European Union and Putin. When asked why, Ruti shouted: “MH17”. Rebels shot down that Dutch airliner in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 with a Russian Buk missile.

European leaders will not discuss relations with Russia until this evening after dinner. That dinner would be an equally difficult balancing act. Hungarian Prime Minister’s leaders go Victor Orban questioned about ‘gay law’which prohibits displaying information and images about the sexual activity and sexual preferences of minors.

Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, who wears a rainbow brooch on his uniform, believes Hungary has “gone too far”. “Hungarian law is backward and shamelessly discriminates against people. Moreover, this starts with LGBs and ends with people silencing if they say something they don’t like. We can’t allow that.

“Anyone who thinks that people become gay by reading a book simply does not understand life,” said Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, who has been married to a man since 2015.

Benelux prime ministers are the driving force behind the letter signed by 17 European leaders Thursday morning. In it, 17 resolved to continue the fight against discrimination against the LGBTI community: “Respect and tolerance are at the heart of the European project.” The text does not refer to Urban Law, but to LGBT Pride Day on June 28.

Orbán reacted visibly to all this pressure interest. “The law has been published, and everyone should read it before criticizing it,” he said. According to Orban, the law defends the rights of children and their parents. Everything related to sexual education is the responsibility of the parents only. At the beginning of the summit, “Victor” also referred to his past as a freedom fighter against the communist regime: “At that time, homosexuality was banned. I released them.