As European summits on the Ukraine war go, this one had the feel of a tempting, high-end takeaway meal.
You look forward to it and it tastes great.
The delivery is superb, but it’s all over with disconcerting speed and then, an hour or two later, you’re wondering if you ever actually ate anything.
What we got here were lots of good wishes, plenty of diplomatic heft, and a torrent of words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy all praised the summit and built up the idea that Europe was united like rarely before, standing at a crucial juncture.
(L-R) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron, and Sir Keir Starmer held a meeting in Paris on Thursday. Pic: PA
Each spoke with enthusiasm and fluency. Each emphasised their disdain for Russia‘s promises and their desire to push Russia.
There was a new phrase called into action – a “reassurance force” that might be in place to police a ceasefire.
But then there were the ingredients that were missing.
For one – real clarity about what is being planned, or demanded. About how Russia can be persuaded, much less forced, into stopping its aggression.
And desperate caution over the taut relationship with the United States.
When I asked Starmer how he could possibly rely on an administration whose senior figures had described European leaders as “pathetic” and “freeloaders”, he dodged the question.
President Emmanuel Macron welcoming Sir Keir at the Elysee Palace. Pic: Reuters
Another colleague asked for details about a deadline that the prime minister had referenced – what, and when, was it, he asked.
What became clear was that the leaders had not actually agreed to impose a deadline as we might understand it, but had actually concluded that there should be a deadline. At some point. And about something.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron. Pic: Reuters.
Progress was made, and it should not be downgraded.
It’s clear that military planning and intelligence will come from Europe to a greater level than it had done previously, and that there is a consensus that the Ukrainian armed forces will need to be bolstered for the long term.
There is also a growing sense that Europe needs to drastically improve its military preparedness by spending more, working together more, and by building more of its own equipment.
The days of buying quite so much from the Americans are, quite clearly, under review.
The problem is that Trump and his team are operating in a way that feels alien to the members of this self-styled ‘coalition of the willing’.
The president is prone to make huge disruptive promises, and then leaving others to either pick up the pieces or else to reverse engineer their way to some kind of result.
Thoughtful deliberation, for so long the bedrock of diplomacy, appears absent, and European leaders, who tend to love a bit of debate and pondering, don’t quite know how to react.
