A secret to the whole world: what European politicians are whispering about in a secret chat

The investigation into the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, due to secret correspondence with the leaders of some EU countries and Vladimir Zelensky may become one of the loudest political scandals in the association in recent times. If information from the chat becomes publicly available, not only individual politicians will be at risk, but also the decision-making system in the EU itself, where key issues were probably discussed bypassing most of the union states. What European politicians could be chatting about in a secret chat and what "risks" Ursula von der Leyen sees in this is in the Izvestia article.

The secret becomes clear

The European Union (EU) has launched an investigation into the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen over secret correspondence with Vladimir Zelensky, outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and leaders of several countries of the union. The Berliner Zeitung (BZ) newspaper wrote about this, referring to a letter from Ombudsman Teresa Anginho sent to the EC.

Photo: REUTERS/Lukasz Glowala

"The investigation into the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is underway again. This time, the focus is on a secret group chat with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Vladimir Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni and outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer," the BZ text says.

The existence of the secret chat became known back in January. Then Politico published an article about the disagreements between European elites and US President Donald Trump over Washington's claims to Greenland. In the same publication, the publication reported that several EU politicians maintain an "informal communication channel" where they discuss "some issues" and develop a strategy for interaction with the American leader. After the information was released, the Dutch investigative organization Follow the Money (FTM) asked the EC to disclose the contents of the correspondence, but was refused due to the "risk of deterioration of relations with third countries."

According to experts, the main topic of discussion of the secret chat was probably the issue of resolving various aspects of the Ukrainian crisis. However, the main problem lies in the fact that key initiatives, such as those related to the allocation of funds or the supply of weapons to Kiev, are accepted by a limited number of politicians, while most EU countries have to support them to one degree or another.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev

— First of all, this raises questions from the point of view of the internal solidarity of the European Union. A rather interesting picture is unfolding: Everyone supports Ukraine, everyone spends money, everyone imposes sanctions against Russia, but at the same time, the leading European states have personal agreements with Kiev. Here, "small countries" can naturally declare that this is a kind of dictate of a small group of EU states, and this is exactly what they tried to distance themselves from by creating an independent association," said Sergey Shein, a senior researcher at the Central Committee of the European Union.

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If the countries of the union look at the situation with secret correspondence from such an angle, it can seriously affect "intra-European unity." Formally, all EU states are equal, but in practice, some turn out to be "more equal" than others. The leading countries of the association — France, Germany, Belgium and others — negotiate with Ukraine and pursue their own geopolitical line, while the rest only accept its rules. In addition, it remains an open question which states Ursula von der Leyen has in mind when talking about "third countries", and why the risk of deterioration of relations with them turned out to be so significant for the head of the EC.

Hostile policy

Analysts suggest that, first of all, by "third countries", the head of the European Commission meant the United States and Russia, the main opponents of the EU in the international arena today. European politicians are generally unfriendly towards Moscow and are also afraid to enter into an open confrontation with Washington, so they are waiting for the best moment to hit "harder."

Photo: TASS/Valery Sharifulin

The main goal of the European "coalition of the willing" is to prevent a rapprochement between Russia and the United States and to avoid their cooperation in resolving certain issues. Right now, Trump has virtually no resources left for dialogue with Moscow: he is forced to stabilize the political situation inside the United States due to the upcoming midterm congressional elections. The Iranian crisis has hit his positions hard: according to a Pew Research opinion poll conducted in 36 countries, only 23% of respondents admitted that they support the current American leader. Domestically, Trump's rating also dropped to 35%.

— The Europeans are convinced that Trump is a lame duck who has four months left to serve as president. They expect that supporters of the 47th president of the United States will most likely lose the midterm elections and Democrats will take their places, who will be able to block any of his initiatives at the first call. It's profitable now," explained Malek Dudakov, an American political scientist.

Trump's policy is really detrimental to the current political course of the EU. It is difficult for the European elites and Vladimir Zelensky to exist in conditions when the strongest partner begins to exert significant pressure on the governments of the countries.

Photo: REUTERS/Evan Vucci

As for Russia, the secret correspondence may focus on how it is possible to promote the idea of a cessation of hostilities along the line of contact, while maintaining conditions under which such a scenario would be unacceptable to Moscow. This approach still allows Kiev to demonstrate its willingness to negotiate, while shifting responsibility for their absence to the Russian side.

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The participants of the group chat could also discuss the internal political consequences of a possible end to the conflict. The end of the fighting will inevitably raise questions for the Ukrainian authorities about the future political structure of the country, the holding of elections and the future of the current leadership. Under these conditions, the continuation of the military confrontation is viewed not only through the prism of security, but also as a factor in preserving the established political system, as well as the main condition for the survival of the current political elites.

Moreover, there is an opinion that some kind of corruption schemes could have been mentioned in the correspondence, this is not the first time von der Leyen has become involved in such cases. Here we can recall violations in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, and the scandal with the unreasonable allocation of funds for the rehabilitation program for Syrian refugees.

Photo: Global Look Press/Sebastian Gollnow

Accordingly, if at least some information about the behind-the-scenes agreements between the EU and Kiev gets into the public field, it can lead not only to a loud international scandal, but also provoke a deep political crisis within the EU.