Seven leaders met in Washington alongside the US president and Ukraine's president, creating a seven-member European grouping that spoke with one voice on Ukraine. The group included NATO, the European Commission, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Finland, representing northern and southern Europe, large and small states, two nuclear powers and two UN Security Council permanent members. The leaders emphasized unity on sanctions, the opening of EU accession negotiations for Ukraine, and supplying weapons to Kyiv. The UK aligned closely with European positions despite leaving the EU. The coordinated statements showed rare, balanced cohesion in European foreign and security policy.
Seven is a biblical number, a number dear to ancient Rome, and the number of Cristiano Ronaldo's lucky jersey. Perhaps it is also now going to be the answer to Henry Kissinger's (probably apocryphal) question: what number do I call when I want to talk to Europe? Maybe the answer is seven, like the number of leaders sitting at the table in Washington on Monday alongside Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It's difficult to say at this stage whether anything good will come from the impromptu White House summit, but European leaders showing up as a group in support of Ukraine was a first. This seven-member format Nato, the European Commission, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Finland truly spoke with one voice. They did so on a crisis, Ukraine, over which they have sometimes been bitterly divided throughout the past three and a half years (remember Emmanuel Macron's early concern not to humiliate Vladimir Putin?).
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