Ukraine talks take over. Today was meant to be the first European Council summit dedicated to artificial intelligence. President António Costa had invited Arthur Mensch, CEO of Europe’s AI darling Mistral, and Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton to discuss the opportunities and risks of the disruptive technology.As an EU official put it, “sometimes [the European Council] gets overcrowded by current events.” And that is precisely the case, with the peace talks on Ukraine firmly at centre stage.Late last night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at a military airbase outside Dublin, Shona Murray reports from the ground.The short meeting was hastily arranged in the aftermath of two days of talks in Abu Dhabi. Witkoff and Kushner arrived at the air corps barracks in cold, bleak conditions, straight from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.A place at the table. Zelenskyy confirmed that Europe will take part directly in the next round of negotiations, rather than being kept on the sidelines. Witkoff had already floated that Putin had agreed to open the negotiating table to the Europeans, though the Kremlin quickly played down the prospect.“Next time, next meeting, Europe ... will be in the negotiating team,” he told journalists waiting outside.
EU leaders in Dublin grapple with who speaks for Europe in peace talks
Good morning. I’m Luca Bertuzzi, holding the pen for today’s newsletter. The Ukraine peace talks, and the question of who should speak for Europe at the table, have swamped the informal EU summit, kicking off another round of the name game.
In brief
Today was meant to be the first European Council summit dedicated to artificial intelligence. Zelenskyy confirmed that Europe will take part directly in the next round of negotiations, rather than being kept on the sidelines. Witkoff had already floated that Putin had agreed to open the negotiating table to the Europeans, though the Kremlin quickly played down the prospect.“Next time, next meeting, Europe ... will be in the negotiating team,” he told journalists waiting outside.
This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to Euronews. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.
Continue reading at Euronews ↗