EU Leaders Hear Macron’s Briefing on Trump Meeting, Discuss Emergency European Council Summit on March 6

Leaders of the European Union member states held a videoconference today to hear a briefing from French President Emmanuel Macron on his talks with US President Donald Trump yesterday and discuss preparations for an emergency summit of the European Council scheduled for 6 March.

The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, announced this and provided some details of the meeting on his Twitter account. 

‘Continuing to work for close European coordination, today President Emmanuel Macron briefed EU leaders on his meeting with Donald Trump earlier this week in Washington, DC,’ he wrote.

Costa also said that it was ‘very useful to prepare our special European Council on 6 March, where we will decide on our support for Ukraine and strengthening European defence’.

After the videoconference, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda emphasised the meeting of EU leaders:  ‘To achieve peace through strength, we must act together.’ 

As a reminder, during his meeting with Macron on 24 February, Trump supported the deployment of European troops to monitor a potential ‘ceasefire’ in Ukraine and admitted that the United States could provide them with some support. However, according to media reports, Trump did not give French President Macron any specific commitments to support the European contingent.