French President Emmanuel Macron met with a bipartisan group of senators Monday after his White House visit, presenting himself as the primary conduit between the United States, Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
“He understands that the Europeans are going to have to spend more of their GDP on national security,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and attended the meeting with Macron.
After his meeting with President Donald Trump, Macron said that both France and Great Britain would take a pivotal role in both increasing European security spending, a message he reiterated to senators. Wicker said that Macron will be instrumental in encouraging other European nations to join with France and Britain in their growing role in global stability.
“He’s committed to being part of the solution. I think he’s realistic about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and the value of Putin’s promises. All in all I think members from both parties came away from the meeting encouraged,” Wicker said.
Macron hosted a meeting last week in Paris with leaders of Britain, Poland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on the subject of European security.
At the same time, Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leadership. The United States’ posturing in recent global summits has made many European allies uneasy — a tension that became more pronounced when Ukrainian representatives were left out of peace talks between the United States and Russia last week.
But in his public remarks at the White House, Macron said “there is good reason” for Trump to engage in restarting conversations between Putin and himself, citing a new U.S. administration with new priorities.
Macron and other European leaders committed to moving troops into Ukrainian territory to ensure an end to hostilities is maintained.
Trump has called on European countries to increase security spending to 5% of their GDP. Major NATO member countries had just achieved Trump’s last goal of 2.5% GDP spending, a milestone that former President Joe Biden claimed credit for.
Macron said that Monday’s talks pushed forward the involvement of Ukraine in the negotiations. Macron told reporters that Trump told him he would soon be talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to involve him in the details of the security guarantees for Ukraine.
The French leader also said the meeting offered an opportunity to discuss troops eventually arriving in Ukraine to maintain a signed peace agreement. France and Britain have both planned to step in as guarantors of the peace after it’s established. Those troop deployments, Macron said, involve a number of countries that have supported Ukraine up to this point.
“If we do not guarantee the security for this territory in Europe, how can we guarantee the security for all?” he said.
Talking to reporters, Macron said that Trump assured him that the White House will have a call with Zelenskyy soon.
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John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Jasmine Wright, a reporter at NOTUS, contributed to this report.