Merkel, Macron express desire to hold summit of Normandy Four leaders as soon as possible
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz (France) has announced the desire of Paris and Berlin to hold a summit of the Normandy Four leaders (Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia) as soon as possible, Deutsche Welle has reported.
The summit in the Normandy format should be held to promote certain successes in the Minsk process, the chancellor is convinced. The venue of the summit should be Paris, according to the online portal, with reference to the German news agency Dpa.
According to Merkel, she and French President Emmanuel Macron want this summit to take place "very quickly" after a preparatory meeting of advisers in the "Normandy format," and if necessary, of foreign ministers. The venue for the next summit should be Paris, since the last meeting of the Normandy Four leaders took place in Germany in 2016.
According to Merkel, during the discussion of the conflict in Donbas at the G7 summit on August 24, various assessments were voiced, but she made it clear on behalf of Germany that progress was needed in the implementation of the Minsk agreements in order to again be able to talk about attracting Russia to the G7 format.
The last time negotiations in the Normandy format at the level of the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia took place in Berlin in October 2016.
In July 2019, the foreign policy advisers to the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia held a meeting in Paris with the goal of resuming the work of the Normandy format.