Foreign ministers from Group of Seven countries in Europe, Asia and North America converged Monday on Paris for two days of talks over unresolved global issues, as the world wonders how Republicans’ devastating midterm election losses will impact U.S. foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will likely face tough questions from his counterparts this week on his first trip abroad since Republicans lost control of Congress last week. He is scheduled to attend group talks with the ministers and individual sessions with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Among the most important issues hanging over the G7 meeting is the status of U.S.-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. The first round of discussions between the warring countries is slated to take place Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. It will be the first instance of direct negotiations since February.
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The meeting also comes as Europe and Ukraine push for comprehensive security guarantees that could prevent further Russian aggression. President Trump this month floated the idea of a Europe-wide security pact that could include Kyiv.
“The entirety of the time we’ve been talking about Russia-Ukraine, the one thing that’s repeatedly come up is the need for security guarantees — what is the post-war security infrastructure of Ukraine and, more broadly, of the European continent going to look like? And it’s one of the key topics that’s been raised repeatedly in every conversation any time negotiations have been discussed,” Mr. Rubio told the press ahead of Monday’s meeting.
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