Rutte denies that Trump is marginalizing Europe in the Ukraine negotiations: "He consults them enough"

BrusselsThe European allies clearly remain in the background of the Ukraine negotiationsDiplomatic sources within NATO itself admit that the United States sets the pace of the talks and, at least to a large extent, the content of the peace agreement texts that have been put on the table. However, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Dutchman Mark Rutte, ignored the marginalization of the European partners in talks so crucial to their security and once again came to the defense of Donald Trump. "The United States consults them [the European allies] sufficiently," the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands told the press.

Rutte thus responded to the various questions journalists posed to him regarding the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It is highly unusual for the Secretary of State not to attend a NATO foreign ministerial meeting, such as the one held this Wednesday in Brussels. However, the Dutch leader in no way sees this as further evidence of the growing distance between the US and NATO, or the Trump administration's disinterest in the security of its allies at such a crucial time as the current resolution of the war in Ukraine. "The teams of Marco Rubio and NATO are in constant contact," added the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance. Nevertheless, the European allies remain hopeful in the Pentagon, which controls NATO and has provided military protection in Europe since the end of World War II, and trust that the Trump administration will look after their security interests. Even Spain, the only ally that has refused to accept the White House's target of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in military spending, has to some extent defended the New York businessman's handling of Ukraine. "All peace efforts, including those of the President of the United States, [...] Spain will work in favor of and support," said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.

On the other hand, Rutte celebrated the success of the program (PURL, or Priority Ukraine Request List), promoted by Trump, which is based on European allies buying weapons from the United States to send to Ukraine. Although initially met with reluctance from a majority of partners, the NATO Secretary General announced that two-thirds have already joined, including Spain. For now, countries like Germany and France oppose it, and even diplomatic sources from countries that have yielded to Pentagon pressure to join admit that it is a huge contradiction, since it forces European allies to pay for more arms aid, and, apart from no longer contributing, the US profits.

Von der Leyen is redoubling the pressure to send Russian money to Ukraine

Belgium continues to block the initiative to allocate Russian funds frozen in the European Union to aid Ukraine. The vast majority of this money, up to 85%, is held in a Brussels-based investment fund, Euroclear, and the Belgian government of Bart De Wever fears that such a measure would violate international law and that Belgium would have to bear the legal and economic consequences. And indeed, this is not a small sum of money: the European Commission has proposed providing Ukraine with €210 billion in loans from these frozen Russian funds held within the EU.

The European Commission maintains that it offers all legal guarantees to ensure that Belgium will not have to bear the brunt of the consequences alone, but rather that, in the worst-case scenario, the entire EU would share the burden. However, the measure has been stalled for weeks, and Ursula von der Leyen's Commission no longer knows how to convince De Wever, who on Wednesday reiterated his complete opposition. Nevertheless, the European Commission has presented an official proposal warning that, if Belgium does not approve, member states will have to issue more joint debt to continue supporting Ukraine, an alternative that is generating even more animosity among many national governments.