France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce: Macron to Le Figaro

France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.In an interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, Macron said that such a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting. The problem there was it would be very difficult to check that it was being respected given the size of the front line, he said. Peacekeepers would be deployed at a later date, he said, adding: “There won’t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks.”

Macron also suggested that European countries should raise their defence spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarisation. “For three years, the Russians have spent 10 percent of their GDP on defence,” he told the paper. “So we have to prepare for what’s next.” In a separate interview with Milan’s Il Foglio newspaper, Macron also said that Europe needed a “strong” Italy to help resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

At Sunday’s crisis talks Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appeared to dismiss the prospect of her country contributing to any peacekeeping force in Ukraine, saying it was “never on the agenda”. “We need Italy, a strong Italy which works side-by-side with France, with Germany, in the concert of great nations,” Macron said, according to a translation of his comments published in Italian.