EU scrambles for seat at the table in Ukraine talks

Also in this newsletter: Chemicals group warns about investing in decarbonisation in EU

Good morning. A scoop to start: Ukraine is deepening its integration with Nato via a partnership that will allow Kyiv to tap directly into the alliance's procurement system.

Today, we give the latest on Europe's view on the talks between Washington and Moscow, while Solvay's CEO explains to our industry correspondent how critical chemicals are to Europe's sovereignty.

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Cold weather

European governments are seeking a bigger say in US President Donald Trump's Ukraine peace talks, but there is little sign that Moscow is willing to compromise, write Mari Novik and Anastasia Stognei.

Context: European officials fear that US special envoy Steve Witkoff's ninth visit to Russia this week is part of a pivot towards Russian President Vladimir Putin in America's push to end Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Ahead of the trip, Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Oslo. They were joined by several European national security advisers and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's head of cabinet.

European representatives pushed to be involved throughout the peace process and called for a step-by-step approach. European leaders prefer talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US to start at a technical level before bringing leaders to the table.

Julie Wilhelmsen, a research professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, said Witkoff's stopover in Oslo signalled the emergence of a second diplomatic track.

"Ukraine's European 'helpers' aim to create lower-level working groups to hammer out solutions to the many different issues that need to be addressed on the way forward to a peace agreement," Wilhelmsen said.

A European Commission spokesperson said that "what is important is that we are sitting at the table, that we are able to present our position". One European diplomat also applauded the Commission's presence in the meetings, given their experience with previous crises. "If shit hits the fan, you want them to be there."

Russia has agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine, which could take place as early as November. But it remains unclear at what level Moscow would participate.

Moscow "noted some new approaches", Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said after Witkoff's visit to St Petersburg, but did not find "much that was useful".

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said Moscow was betting that winter strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure would weaken Kyiv and force European governments to shoulder more of the financial burden.

"Until those bets have played out, there is little incentive for Russia to make serious concessions or engage in genuine negotiations," he said.

Chart du jour: On borrowed time

France's 10-year borrowing costs have hit 5 per cent as it struggles to reduce a fiscal deficit, lifting the gap with Germany's to almost 1.6 percentage points, the highest since the euro debt crisis.

'No investment'

Leading chemicals group Solvay has warned it needs more "carrots" to invest in cutting carbon emissions from its EU operations, writes Ian Johnston.

Context: The European Commission's review of its emissions trading system extends companies' free allowances to emit carbon on the condition that they make investments in decarbonising in the bloc.

The move has been opposed by industries and some member states, who want to see Europe's main climate tool watered down further. Peter Liese, the European parliament lead negotiator on the ETS review, wants to phase in this "conditionality" more gradually.

But investing in European emission reduction is often uneconomical in countries like Germany owing to high energy prices, Solvay chief executive Philippe Kehren told the FT.

"You cannot force people to invest. It's not because you will have this condition that you will increase the investment in Europe, because there is no investment to make," he said. "The only result is that you will continue to shut down the plants."

He added that it was more attractive for Solvay to invest in decarbonising outside of Europe, where energy costs are lower. The company's largest recent investment in emissions reduction came at a US site in 2024, designed to cut approximately 780,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year by abating methane emissions and switching from coal to gas.

Kehren's concerns come despite the chemicals sector -- which he said is "under tremendous pressure" -- already benefiting from copious state aid, compensation for ETS costs passed on by electricity providers and a string of protection measures from Chinese imports.

In Europe, he said, there is no longer competition from Chinese soda ash, a key chemical in glass production, thanks to EU defence measures.

What to watch today

* European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen meets Vietnamese president Tô Lâm in Brussels.

* German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travels to Montenegro.

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* Deal maker: EU members are considering temporarily shelving a push to secure lower fees for their students at UK universities to secure a "reset" deal.