Bloomberg: Merz plans EU leaders’ meeting ahead of NATO summit

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to bring together the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland in Berlin at the end of June to coordinate a strategy for dealing with US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in July, according to Bloomberg, citing sources.

The sources said the meeting aims to prepare a set of measures demonstrating that European allies are ready to take greater responsibility for defence.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is also expected to be invited to the discussions.

A separate meeting of defence ministers from the five countries is expected to take place in Paris on June 12, where they will seek to align their positions ahead of the summit and discuss command structures in the event of a conflict escalation in Europe.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov