Coalition of the Willing: Paris reveals list of participants for meeting
Seven European leaders, the EU leadership and the Ukrainian president will personally attend the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris on 4 September, while around 20 other countries will join remotely, Paris has reported.
According the Élysée Palace, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, six other EU leaders will be present in person: Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Also attending in person will be European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had already arrived in Paris the day before.
Joining remotely will be NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and leaders from around 20 countries across Europe and beyond:
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer
- Romanian President Nicușor Dan
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov
- Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal
- Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa
- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda
- Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre
- Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson
- Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala
- Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden
- Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin
- Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro
- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
- Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulídis
- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković
- Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob
- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama
- Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
- New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
Austria will be represented by Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Iceland by Foreign Minister Karin Gunnarsdóttir, and Türkiye by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz.
Among EU members, only Slovakia, Hungary, and Malta will be absent. In total, representatives from 33 countries are taking part.
Update: Later, in opening the meeting, Macron announced that 35 countries were taking part.
Ahead of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that allies had finalised security guarantees for Ukraine, which are now ready for political approval.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Friedrich Merz made it clear that there are no concrete plans – "at least not in Germany" – to deploy troops in Ukraine.
European leaders participating in the Coalition of the Willing discussions, co-chaired by France and the UK in Paris, will call US President Donald Trump after the talks conclude.