Europe Agrees on a Team to Represent It in Talks With Russia

European leaders have waited on the margins of negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine for months, eyeing a seat at the table. They learned this week that they would get one, and simply needed to decide which official should sit in that chair.

Instead, they decided on six.

European Union leaders concluded in Dublin on Friday that they will tap a group of major nations — Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Italy — along with a representative from the E.U’s leadership arms, the European Council and European Commission.

In some ways, the choice of a crowd plays into jibes Americans have made about the continent’s indecisiveness: “If Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation,” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a U.S. envoy, said earlier this week.

Europe’s failure to pick one negotiator leaves open the possibility that its fragmentation will diminish its influence. Even so, Europeans have underscored that they are a democracy of many nations and that many voices must be represented.

“We decide on who represents us, and that is what we have done today,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.

“We need to work as a team,” António Costa, president of the European Union’s political leadership arm, said at a news conference on Friday, noting that America itself has two envoys.