In Dublin it's frosty toward the EU envoy, but the E5 format is born with Italy

A stone guest, the knot of the EU negotiator. And an evening appointment, perhaps the most important one, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The first day of the Dublin summit revolves around these two pillars and is steeped in a tension that surfaces like a karst river in the statements of the leaders gathered in the Irish capital. Witkoff: 'Europeans will take part in the next round of talks on Ukraine' The issue of the EU envoy splits Europe and could continue to split it. France and Germany, for now, are not giving up on one concept: to sit at the table one must start from the E3 format and the representatives of the EU institutions. Italy cannot agree. And it is not enough that in Abu Dhabi Rome was present too. "There are too many formats, it is not just a question of name but of mandate," is the message brought by Giorgia Meloni to Dublin. Where, in the evening and coming back from Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner arrive. And the great game of the EU envoy also passes through the identikit of the European sherpa called to meet the American envoys. Meloni and the Berlin group, on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit, meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom the premier also has a bilateral meeting. Then the Ukrainian president meets the sherpa of the E5 (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland), in the same format as Abu Dhabi. Translated: with the premier's diplomatic adviser at the table. Then, immediately after, it is only Zelensky who meets Donald Trump's envoys. Finally, the final meeting. Perhaps the most important. At the table are the sherpa of the EU institutions and of the E4 plus Poland. Irish Prime Minister Martin with Ukrainian President Zelensky Facing Donald Trump's envoys without Zelensky. This is, perhaps, the birth of a new negotiating team, which sees Italy present. And which will probably sit at the table of the next round of talks with the US, Ukraine and Russia, scheduled shortly after November 19, when the Willing will meet in Berlin and the trilateral between Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is expected in Shenzhen. The diplomatic canvas for a possible peace, with difficulty, is taking shape. The two US envoys and the European sherpa agree that the negotiations on Ukraine must move from the "trilateral" format to a "multilateral" one. "Let's be honest, it is us Europeans, Canada, Australia, Japan who support the Ukrainians because American support is no longer there," is the corollary drawn by Emmanuel Macron upon arrival at the Convention Centre on the banks of the River Liffey. The EU must be "structurally" at the negotiating table and must be "fully" represented, the Ukrainian leader presses in the meeting with Costa and von der Leyen. The risk is that the debate now gets stuck on itself. And the overlapping voices of the various leaders on the dossier only, at least apparently, worsen the impasse. The Baltics, for example, support the thesis that the EU negotiating team is in fact ready. "There are Costa and High Representative Kaja Kallas, we have already decided," says Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. "The important thing is that Russia comes to the negotiating table and is ready to discuss. Everything else will then fall into place," Merz cautions. "It is the content that determines the format," Macron pronounces, using deliberately generic words to say that, in Paris, the E3 format is more than fine. With one reason: it is Britain, France and Germany who have so far led the military aid for Kyiv and have already planned boots on the ground in Ukraine after a possible ceasefire. "We already have the right people to negotiate," explains Costa, in fact making a new attempt to buy time. Indeed, because the discussion will return to the table on Friday at the informal European Council, again in Dublin. With Meloni who has no intention of letting go. For the head of the Italian government, the status quo in the format of the EU negotiating team is not acceptable. The voice must be single, and it must represent everyone. "The fact that Italy is there or Italy is not there in this or that format does not change the judgment on too many formats talking about this matter," underlines the premier, with a postscript: "Non-opposition" to the fact that it is Costa who negotiates, a solution however not viable because it excludes non-EU countries, starting with Britain. For the premier, however, there is also the need to work out the package of military aid to be sent to Kyiv, in the eternal search for a balance between Zelensky's requests and the conditions of Italian defense. The topic, most likely, was on the table of the bilateral meeting between Meloni and the Ukrainian leader, who at the end defines it "as always fruitful." Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA