Merz invites Starmer, Macron, Meloni and Tusk to Berlin for E5 summit

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited his top European counterparts to a summit in Berlin next, he said on Wednesday at the Group of 7 (G7) meeting in Évian.

French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk are set to visit the German capital for the so-called E5 meeting, the date for which is yet to be determined.

European leaders are in the middle of a flurry of diplomacy, with an EU summit set to follow the G7 on Thursday and Friday, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8. 

Merz said the E5 summit is intended to focus on the follow-up to the two meetings this week. 

Talks in the five-country format have emerged in recent years at the defence minister level, but Merz's invitation represents the first opportunity for a leaders' summit.

Most recently, there have been summit meetings primarily in the E3 format with Germany, France and the United Kingdom, aiming to reinvigorate diplomatic efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

Commenting on the various formats, Merz said he always endeavours not to exclude anyone. 

At the same time, however, he wants to take on “a bit of a leadership role” alongside the larger European states, but "always in consultation with others, always with full transparency regarding what we are doing."