BBC News
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet Donald Trump in Washington, the first one-on-one meeting between the pair since the US president re-entered the White House.
Macron said in a social media Q&A he warned Trump to make Russian President Vladimir Putin appear vulnerable. It comes after the first US meeting with Russia in person since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He will also present a European proposal to achieve peace in Ukraine after the US president accused him of “didn’t do anything” about the issue.
The conference will be held on the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Russia’s Ukraine. Other European leaders were in Kiev on a show of support.
On Thursday, Macron told social media audiences he needs to think about how Trump’s interaction with Putin looks like to other world leaders.
“It’s not you, it’s your trademark, it’s not your interest. If you’re weak in Putin’s face, how can you trust China?” Macron said.
He added that US and European interests are consistent and he is trying to persuade Trump that “if we take over Ukraine to Russia, that would not be stopped.”
This means that peace deals must be negotiated with Ukrainians and Europeans around the table, Macron said.
This appeal to the ego of the US president is a conscious choice from Macron. Macron knows Trump from his first term of power, which Chatham House think tank Sebastian Mailard says.
“Mcron is trying to touch on something more emotional than purely rational argument,” Mailard said.
He said he wanted to show up as a strong man who quickly won peace deals, so Macron’s strategy is to show Trump how weak he looks, and he’s not the strong man he wants to be. It must be.”
“If he treats Putin too kindly, he will not be respected by China, Iran or any other enemy.”
“Europe’s Last Chance Mission”
More broadly, Macron’s visit could be part of Europe and fact-finding missions, according to Mailard.
“This is a last chance mission as Europe feels things are in a hurry. They fear this will be done too quickly and badly,” Mailard said.
He added that the international community was “confusing” by the “new Putin Trump axis,” and that “Macron wants to understand what the future holds for NATO.”
“I hope he won’t be surprised by his next speech or next tweet,” Mailard added.
An adviser to Macron’s office said the French president would use the conference to present “suggestions for actions that reflect the emergent convergence,” the AFP reported.
EPAThese convergences refer to Washington’s sudden policy shifts in direct involvement of Russia.
Within a month of retrieving the White House, Trump took Putin over the phone to him and sent a delegation of US delegates to meet with his Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia.
These talks led to an agreement that teams from both countries would be appointed to begin negotiations on the end of the war.
Russia also said it would not accept peacekeeping forces from Ukraine’s NATO countries under the peace agreement. He said this was a proposal that Ben grew up a day ago at a meeting of European members of NATO in Paris, which was rushed to be arranged by Macron.
Macron’s meeting with Trump is ahead of the UK’s Sir Kiel Starmer himself’s visit scheduled for Thursday.
Like the French leader, priority is accused by Trump of doing nothing to end the war. The British leader also responded, saying that Trump called Zelensky a “dictator” and that he was the “democratically elected leader” of his country.
Both Macron and Starmer are trying to present Trump with a united front to persuade him to make decisions about Ukraine and Europe’s security without involving Europeans, Mailard said.
