Macron considering fresh Trump meetings with Starmer and Zelenskyy, French government says – Europe live | Europe

Speaking after the weekly French cabinet meeting, the French government’s spokesperson Sophie Primas told journalists said she would not pre-empt president Macron’s address to the nation tonight, but added that

It is being considered that president Macron could possibly go back to Washington with president Zelenskyy and with his English counterpart.

She was later asked a follow-up question on the expected timing of the visit and who came up with the idea, and she said she didn’t have the information, but expected this to happen “in the near future.”

She said she believed the meeting was a French initiative.

French president Emmanuel Macron is considering making another visit to the US to meet US president Donald Trump together with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British prime minister Keir Starmer, a French government spokesperson said in comments reported by Reuters.

France and the UK have been leading Europe’s response to the diplomatic crisis between the US and Ukraine after talks between Trump and Zelenskyy broke down last Friday in acrimony.

Russia takes a positive view of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement last night that he is willing to negotiate over the war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, however, that it was not clear how this would work because Ukraine had a legal ban on negotiating with Russia, Reuters noted.

He was referring to a Zelenskyy decree in 2022 that ruled out negotiations with president Vladimir Putin.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko also joined in with his reaction, offering to host Russia-Ukraine talks that could involve US officials.

Belarus previously hosted talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in 2014 and 2015 mediated by France and Germany, resulting in the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, named after the Belarusian capital.

European markets rallying after German ‘bazooka’ announcement on defence spending

Julia Kollewe

European markets are rallying, with defence stocks soaring, after Germany’s prospective partners in government, the CDU/CSU and SPD, agreed on a major loosening of Germany’s fiscal straitjacket – described as “a really big bazooka” by economists.

An index of European aerospace and defence firms advanced by 3.3%. Shares in German companies Thyssenkrupp, Hensoldt, Rheinmetall and Renk have risen by between 5% and 12%. The UK’s BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence group, rose by 3.3%.

The Dax in Frankfurt leapt by nearly 3%, and is set for its biggest daily increase since November 2022.

Greenland’s prime minister Múte B. Egede responded to US president Donald Trump’s comments overnight and rejecting his interest, saying that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”

“We are not Americans, we are not Danes, because we are Greenlanders. This is what the Americans and their leaders need to understand,” he said in a Facebook post.

“We are not for sale and cannot just be taken,” he added.

Egede insisted that “the future of the country will be determined by us in our country, of course.”

Greenland will hold a general election next week, on 11 March.

Starting from today, EU citizens planning to visit the UK can apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation, or ETA, which will be required to enter the country from 2 April 2025.

The UK government sought to reassure travellers that the application process is “quick and simple” through the UK ETA app, “with the vast majority of applicants currently receiving a decision automatically in minutes.”

The government said:

Applicants provide their biographic and biometric details and answer a few questions on suitability and criminality. Once an applicant has successfully applied, their ETA is digitally linked to their passport.

An ETA currently costs £10 and allows multiple visits to the UK of up to six months over a two-year period, or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. An ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel.

More details about the scheme are here.

Denmark’s deputy prime minister and defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen reacted to Trump’s comments on Greenland overnight, stressing that it was a positive development that the US president acknowledged the island’s right to self-determination.

Foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen echoed his comments, saying that part of Trump’s comments was “most important.”

Rasmussen said noted that Greenland wanted to “loosen ties with Denmark,” but was not sure if they wanted to do that to become part of the US instead. He declined to comment further, however, ahead of next week’s snap elections on the island.

But not everyone is equally diplomatic: Martin Lidegaard, the leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party, or Radikale, called Trump’s comments “completely disrespectful,” although he also noted they were “less bombastic” than before.

In other late developments you shouldn’t miss, the prospective partners in Germany’s next government have said they will seek to loosen rules on running up debt to allow for higher defence spending.

Centre-right election winner Friedrich Merz, who is trying to put together a coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats, said the two sides would propose exempting spending of more than 1% of gross domestic product on defence from rules that limit the government’s ability to borrow money.

They said they will also seek to set up a huge €500bn ($533bn) fund to finance spending on Germany’s infrastructure over the next 10 years.

“In view of the increasing threat situation, it is clear to us that Europe – and with Europe, the Federal Republic of Germany – must now very quickly make very big efforts very quickly to strengthen the defence capability of our country and the European continent,” Merz told reporters at a hastily convened news conference.

Merz also said he wanted to get immediate approval for a three-billion-euro aid package for Ukraine that has been held up for weeks.

He vowed to do “whatever it takes“ when it comes to defence “in light of threats to our freedom and peace on our continent”.

Merz’s promise of “whatever it takes“ recalled the pledge made in 2012 by the then president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi during the sovereign debt crisis.

Pope Francis “rested well during the night,” the Vatican said in the latest update on the 88-year-old’s health as he continues his battle to overcome double pneumonia.

The Vatican added that he had woken up shortly after 8 am, with agencies noting that pontiff normally starts his day well before dawn when he is healthy.

The pope has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest such absence since his papacy started 12 years ago, Reuters noted.

French president Emmanuel Macron will address the nation tonight seeking to address “this moment of uncertainty, where the world is confronted by large challenges,” he said in a post on social media.

France plays a leading role, together with the UK, in talks with the US about supporting Ukraine, with Macron floating the idea of a limited truce after last weekend’s talks in London.

Tonight’s address is expected 8pm CET (7pm GMT).

Morning opening: Mixed signals

Jakub Krupa

In a rare positive development these days, US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to be a step closer to reconciling after last week’s public clash in the Oval Office, after Trump said he “appreciated” getting “an important letter” from Zelenskyy.

This comes after Zelenskyy proposed a possible peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying he is willing to work “constructively” under Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” and to sign a deal giving the US access to his country’s mineral wealth.

Trump also said he had been in “serious discussions with Russia” and claimed he had “received strong signals that they are ready for peace”.

“Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” he said. “It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars you have to talk to both sides.”

Still, the US president could not resist a swipe at the EU, falsely saying it had “sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than … on defending Ukraine, by far.”

But then he confusingly added: “But we’re getting along very well with them and lots of good things are happening.”

His speech to the Congress last night, while far better than many feared, also included a number of contentious lines for Europeans.

In remarks that are likely to further trigger alarm bells in Denmark, Trump told “the incredible people of Greenland” that while the US “strongly support your right to determine your own future,” it would be even happier to welcome them into the US, promising to “make you rich.”

“We need Greenland for national security and even international security. … And I think we’re going to get it – one way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he said.

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt said: “That’s the Putin way of treating countries.”

Trump’s comments come less than a week before snap elections to Inatsisartut, Greenlandic parliament, with the current ruling party calling for an independence referendum, raising questions over whether the US president intended to influence the vote.

The US president also spoke of his favourite word in the world, tariffs, saying:

Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada – have you heard of them? – and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them.

He repeated his plan to impose new tariffs from 2 April – “I wanted to make it 1 April, but I didn’t want to be accused of April Fools’ Day – it’s not” – raising fears of a trade war with the EU.

It’s the usual format with Trump that you get mixed signals. One step forward on Ukraine, two steps back on Greenland and tariffs.

Let’s see what the day will bring and the two sides can make more progress on the minerals deal for Ukraine.

We will bring you the latest here.

It’s Wednesday, 5 March 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.

Good morning.