Above photo: European leaders during the London summit, March 2, 2025. Emmanuel Macron/X.
Amid tensions with the Trump administration, European leaders met in London to discuss militarization.
And continued support for Ukraine’s government.
European leaders—together with NATO chief Mark Rutte and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—met in London on Sunday to discuss further militarization and support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration following his humiliation at the hands of the US president and vice president. Trump and Vance’s treatment of Zelenskyy only deepened the perplexity that has been haunting European countries since January, when the new US administration began to chill relations towards its Atlantic allies.
In the aftermath of the summit, politicians struggled to reconcile statements of unwavering support for Ukraine with the reality that they are not prepared to sever ties with the US. From their reactions, it seems certain that peace for Ukraine is not a priority—but remaining in Donald Trump’s good books is. As Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pointed out, for the European political establishment “it is very, very important that we avoid the risk of the West splitting.”
Contradictions burdening European heads of state were also evident in the proposals emerging from the summit. On the one hand, attendees tried to paint Europe as a force capable of securing a peace process that would favor Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer floated the idea of a “coalition of the willing” to send troops to Ukraine for “peacekeeping,” while French officials suggested securing a one-month truce to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is “acting in good faith.”
On the other hand, the success of virtually all ideas floated at the summit would depend on US support. The alternative peace agreement would even be presented to the US administration for approval, judging from the leaders’ statements. In fact, US support would be among the three key factors supporting its implementation, in addition to European troops being deployed to Ukraine and continued arms shipments to the country.
The summit’s outcomes also included repeated references to militarization as a pathway to peace, mirroring the widespread belief among European leaders that war is the only way to prevent war. “The path to peace is strength,” declared European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Weakness breeds more war. We will support Ukraine while undertaking a surge in European defense.”
A key moment of this push might happen already this week as von der Leyen presents a proposal to rearm the European Union during a session of the European Council.
Despite the frequent references to “peace,” left activists and politicians soon exposed the summit’s real agenda as another step toward war. “While a deal to end the war in Ukraine is welcome, no one should trust Starmer, who is ramping up military spending,” Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition told The Morning Star. “Working-class people have nothing to gain from militarism and war.”
Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn and Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticized the summit for its acceptance of Trump’s policies. “The London meeting is a summit of emptiness,” Mélenchon wrote on X. “All this just to reaffirm the alliance with Trump, talk endlessly about the European pillar of NATO, and so on.”
“Europeans are finally discovering how the US has been treating Latin America and its leaders for a century,” he added.