European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius has strongly advocated for Europe to develop its own distinct peace plan for Ukraine, urging the continent to overcome its historical tendency to await initiatives from Washington. Kubilius emphasized the strategic importance of Europeans formulating their own proposals to compare with American plans, seeing it as a crucial step towards greater independence in both defense capabilities and geopolitical standing.

This call for European initiative comes in the wake of significant diplomatic activity surrounding the conflict. A controversial peace plan proposal, reportedly formulated between Washington and Moscow, recently leaked, causing considerable alarm among Ukrainians and Europeans. This plan was perceived to heavily favor Russia, suggesting that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, impose limits on its military size, and abandon its aspiration to join the NATO alliance.

The revelation of the skewed proposal triggered a rapid series of diplomatic engagements across Europe, including a meeting of the 'Coalition of the Willing'. European nations swiftly put forward counter-proposals, leading to the creation of an "updated and refined peace framework" during a meeting in Geneva over the weekend. This revised framework is now expected to serve as the foundation for subsequent talks between the United States and Russia.

Despite Europe being the largest contributor of military and financial aid to war-torn Ukraine, and having committed to providing most of the necessary security guarantees should a peace agreement be reached, the incident highlighted the continent's persistent struggle to secure a central role in such critical negotiations. French President Emmanuel Macron underscored this point after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, insisting that no agreement could advance without European participation and that the process required Europeans "around the table." Macron also noted that no final decisions had been made and that discussions on security guarantees would continue.

Commissioner Kubilius acknowledged US President Donald Trump's efforts to bring peace, but stressed a paramount concern: whether any proposed peace, particularly one mirroring the leaked plan, would be genuinely "just and long-term." He issued a stark warning that a "bad deal" would not only be detrimental to Ukraine but also to the entire European continent. Kubilius cited intelligence services' assessments indicating that Russia could be prepared to test Article 5 of the NATO treaty within the next few years, underscoring the severe risks of a flawed resolution.

Further addressing Ukraine's needs, Kubilius, echoing High Representative Kaja Kallas, supported the creation of a reparations loan. This proposal aims to utilize nearly €200 billion of Russian Central Bank assets, currently frozen within European jurisdictions, to provide substantial financial assistance to Ukraine for the next two years. Kubilius suggested that such a significant financial commitment could potentially convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that his objectives in the conflict would ultimately remain unachieved.

However, the implementation of this reparations loan faces an obstacle from Belgium, the country holding the majority of these frozen assets. Belgium is calling for greater risk and burden sharing among European nations, citing concerns about potential retaliation from Moscow. EU leaders are anticipated to make a final decision on whether to proceed with this plan during their meeting scheduled for December 18.