Faced with the increasingly pressing question of security guarantees for Ukraine, the meeting held in the former Val-de-Grâce army hospital in Paris on Wednesday, March 12, between the defense ministers of Europe's major military powers – France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Poland – made "planning" its main slogan. A term which, in military parlance, carries a great deal of meaning. It signifies the desire to move beyond declarations of intent to the implementation of concrete objectives.
While Europeans are currently marginalized in the discussions initiated between the United States, Russia and Ukraine for a ceasefire, this third meeting of the so-called "E5" format, created in the wake of the election of US President Donald Trump, signaled the determination of several allies to make their weight felt, whatever the cost. "Now, we need to start having a pragmatic agenda, one that's a little rough (...), but it's in the detail that we'll manage to change the geopolitical paradigm," insisted French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Wednesday.
To demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions, the allies made extensive use of strategic communication tools. In particular, they aligned themselves closely with the conclusions of the previous day's meeting in Paris of the chiefs of staff of the armies of 34 countries, including all NATO member states – except the US – under the leadership of the only two nuclear deterrent states on the European continent: France and the UK.
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