A move by Berlin and Paris to an EU summit with the Russian President failed last week, mainly because of the Eastern European EU states.
Angela Merkel does not want to give up yet.
Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is sticking to her goal of a summit of the 27 EU heads of state and government with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The relationship between Russia and the European Union is really not good at the moment.
But people also spoke to each other during the Cold War, ”said Merkel on Monday at a joint video hearing with French Prime Minister Jean Castex in the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.
She emphasized: "Speechlessness does not mean that the problems can be solved."
At the EU summit in Brussels at the end of last week, an attempt by Merkel in particular for an offer of talks to Putin failed due to the resistance of Eastern European countries.
However, there was agreement that Russia should have more borders in the future.
Merkel now said that at the EU summit there was concern "that we might not be able to come together". A summit with Putin must of course be prepared very intensively. From their point of view, one should address "all the questions that complain to us and on which we want to cooperate". Merkel named the hybrid attacks that one was exposed to in France, Germany or the Baltic states. Here it is “better not only to always talk about it among us, but also to confront the Russian President with these things and to say that a successful cooperation cannot take place on such a basis,” stressed Merkel.
US President Joe Biden made this very clear to Putin in connection with the cyber attacks, said the Chancellor. "And why shouldn't Europe be able to do the same?" . Merkel mentioned strategic issues of disarmament, peace and security, for example in Syria and Libya. Here you can sound out with Putin whether you can come to joint results. dpa