Pellegrini: Macron Tearing Europe Apart on Issue of Ukraine Peace Talks

Komarno, February 19 (TASR-correspondent) - French President Emmanuel Macron's initiatives involving peace negotiations on Europe are at odds with what Europe called for at the Munich Conference, said President Peter Pellegrini during his working trip to Komarno (Nitra region) on Wednesday. "Europe, after feeling harsh statements by the United States, after seeing that peace negotiations would first take place between the United States and Russia, even without Ukraine, called for unity and for joining forces in the search for some European stance on this matter," stated Pellegrini. According to Pellegrini, Macron's "strange" approach does the exact opposite and is shattering the European Union, simply fragmenting it into smaller parts. "At first a summit at which there were only a few chosen countries along with Great Britain, now another summit, which should take place today, at which there is another group of countries, and I didn't understand why Hungary and Slovakia aren't there, even though we are direct neighbours of the country of the conflict. Strange! I don't get it how a country that borders a country in which a military conflict is taking place can fail to be invited to a summit on the future of Ukraine and the post-war settlement," said Pellegrini, adding that what the French president is doing isn't contributing to unity. France will host a second summit on Ukraine and European security with a wider group of allies in attendance on Wednesday afternoon. It will be held in a hybrid format, with several representatives of countries joining it via video-call. The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy and Poland, as well as the heads of EU and NATO institutions took part in a first hastily convened summit on Monday (February 17). ko/df