Macron brings Trump, Zelensky together ahead of ceremony

US President-elect Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky held talks in Paris yesterday, brought together by a grand ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Macron convened the trilateral meeting ahead of an evening event he was hosting to celebrate the cathedral’s restoration five years after it was ravaged by fire.
President Zelensky and European leaders have been concerned that Trump, who takes office next month, could withdraw US military aid to Ukraine at a crucial juncture in Kyiv’s battle to repel Russia.
Zelensky said the meeting was “good and productive” and that the three men agreed to continue working together.
“President Trump is, as always, resolute. I thank him,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform X. “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way.”
Trump was on his first trip overseas since winning last month’s presidential election and the visit to Paris was seen as offering Macron an early opportunity to play the role of mediator between Europe and the incoming president, a role the French leader has relished in the past.
Macron is a strong supporter of the Nato alliance and Ukraine’s fight, while Trump feels European nations need to pay more for their common defence. He has said a negotiated settlement is needed to end the Ukraine war.
Arriving at the Elysee Palace, Trump told Macron they had enjoyed “really great success” working together during his first term in office.
“And it certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now. And we’ll be talking about that,” Trump added.
Trump gave Zelensky a firm handshake and patted him on the back before Macron stood between them and Trump smiled for the camera.
The meeting between the three men lasted about 20 minutes.
By inviting Trump to the reopening of Notre-Dame, Macron was repeating a personalised approach that had some limited success during Trump’s first term, said Heather Conley, senior adviser to the board of the German Marshall Fund, which promotes US-European ties. “Mr Macron knows Mr Trump greatly appreciates the pomp, circumstance and grandeur of state and he provides it to him in abundance,” Conley said.
Trump later joined world leaders, royals and business tycoons for a ceremony that got underway with the tolling of Notre-Dame’s great bourdon bell.
Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20, has already held discussions with a number of world leaders and members of his team are trying to get up to speed on a number of world crises, including Ukraine and the Middle East.