Europe's Ukraine Club Loses Both Founders, Still No CEO
Two men built a 30-country alliance to arm Ukraine and stare down Putin. Both are now walking out the door, and Europe's applauding like it's a retirement party instead of an emergency.
Keir Starmer exited the world stage this month with France's highest honor pinned to his chest — a first for a sitting British PM — and a farewell verdict of "My work is done".
Emmanuel Macron, who led the tribute to Starmer's "historic role," is next out the door, term-limited by his own constitution. His own words on the matter, delivered with what one interviewer called "apparent regret": "I am the first president in our history who does not have the constitutional right to run again".
Replacing them: Andy Burnham, the UK's seventh PM in a decade, whose foreign-policy résumé is described as "extensive domestic political experience" and not much else. He picked Zelensky for his first foreign meeting, which is a nice gesture — right up until you remember gestures don't deploy troops or fund air defense. On the French side, the bookmakers' favorite to inherit Macron's chair is Marine Le Pen, who has promised to pull France out of NATO's command structure and lift sanctions on Russia. That's the coalition's presumed next co-chair — the one whose platform is dismantling the coalition.
Germany's Merz is "cornered by domestic friction," Poland's Tusk and Italy's Meloni have already said no thanks, and nobody with actual authority wants the job of holding 30 countries together while Russia keeps shelling. As one assessment of the moment put it bluntly: "We have no Churchill in Europe so far".
So the plan for guaranteeing Ukraine's post-ceasefire security now rests on a mayor-turned-PM finding his footing and a French election that might hand the keys to the one candidate who wants to burn the building down.
If nobody in Europe is willing to lead the coalition of the willing, was it ever really a coalition — or just two men's personal project with a nice brand name?
#ukraine #europe #nato #starmer #macron
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