go to the original language article
“`html
Brussels – The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, José Manuel Albares, assured this Monday that “there is no debate” about sending European troops to enforce a future ceasefire in Ukraine, pointing out that this is a scenario that Spain “does not consider”.
“We are in the realm of speculation. It is not a debate among Europeans at this time,” stated the Spanish minister upon his arrival at the meeting of European Foreign Ministers in Brussels. “It is not something that Spain is considering,” he said, flatly discarding this option.
In the same vein, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, dismissed the possibility of sending European troops, noting that “there must first be peace to send a peacekeeping mission.”
“Russia does not want peace. That is clear,” she pointed out, referring to the positions of the Russian Foreign Minister, Serguei Lavrov, in a recent interview, reiterating that “sending the peace troops cannot be discussed.”
However, the scenario of European troops intervening to reinforce Ukraine in a future ceasefire is a rising debate in Europe as the French President, Emmanuel Macron, insists on his proposal to deploy forces in certain parts of Ukraine to ensure the country’s security as it progresses in its process to join NATO.
Thus, the EU has explained that it does not rule out any measure related to military support to Ukraine. Although Poland rejected this scenario during Macron‘s visit to Warsaw, Europe has future plans on the table to reinforce Kyiv in light of the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House. In this context, various media have pointed to a meeting between several European leaders and the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, to discuss Ukraine’s future on the sidelines of the European summits this Wednesday and Thursday.
In diplomatic circles in Brussels, the debate about the possible deployment of European military forces is seen as “inevitable” since the President of the United States has set the goal of achieving peace negotiations in Ukraine soon, though they acknowledge that much remains to be known about the conditions for the conversions and the eventual cessation of hostilities.
“We are at a conceptual level about things that need to be thought about if there is an agreement,” diplomatic sources admit, although they point out that there are no detailed plans and at the moment the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not shown willingness to sit down to negotiate. (December 16)
“`