Starmer, Merz and Macron take phone call with Trump on Ukraine peace talks – as it happened

That’s it from us on this live blog. Here’s a recap of the main news of the day:

• The leaders of France, Germany and the UK spoke with Donald Trump about Ukraine on Wednesday. In similar statements Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer said they discussed “the state of talks” on ending the Ukraine war, agreeing that “intensive work on the peace plan is to continue in the coming days.” The leaders also agreed that it was “a crucial moment” for Ukraine and for “common security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

• Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his team would talk to US negotiators on Wednesday about the process of postwar reconstruction and economic development. This comes a day before urgent talks with 30 leaders in the Coalition of the Willing and amid plans to use frozen Russian assets to provide a $78bn loan to Kyiv.

• There were unconfirmed reports that another meeting of European leaders on Ukraine is planned for Monday in Berlin, a week on from the latest summit in London.

• German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he wanted the US to remain a partner of Germany despite a changing nature of their relationship, saying he would also defend his country’s record on migration when he next meets Donald Trump. This comes after Trump attacked Europe as “decaying” because of immigration. Merz said: “We are preparing ourselves for a change in transatlantic relations. But I would still like to see it as a partnership, and I hope that America sees it the same way in its relations with Europe and also with Germany.”

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three months, if Ukraine’s parliament and foreign allies will allow it, after Donald Trump accused him of clinging on to power.

• Pope Leo has criticized Trump’s comments about Europe. Without naming the US president the pope said: “Remarks that are made about Europe, also in interviews recently, I think, are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.”

• Venezuela’s opposition leader was awarded the Nobel peace prize in absentia at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. María Corina Machado, has vowed to continue her struggle to free the country from years of “obscene corruption”, “brutal dictatorship” and “despair”. In a lecture delivered by her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, the former congresswoman and veteran pro-democracy campaigner pledged to continue leading Venezuela on its “long march to freedom”.

The German government’s statement on the call confirmed that chancellor Merz joined France’s Macron and UK’s Starmer on a phone call with US president Trump.

They discussed “the state of talks” on ending the Ukraine war, agreeing that “intensive work on the peace plan is to continue in the coming days.”

The leaders also agreed that it was “a crucial moment” for Ukraine and for “common security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

France’s president Emmanuel Macron said he had held a phone call earlier on Wednesday US president Donald Trump to discuss the situation in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“I was at the St Malo town hall for a phone call with some colleagues and President Trump on the question of Ukraine,” Macon said after arriving late at a public debate in the Brittany town on social media networks.

“We had about 40 minutes of discussion to advance on a subject that concerns all of us,” he said.

Home affairs editor

The UK has joined some of Europe’s hardline governments in calling for human rights laws to be “constrained” to allow Rwanda-style migration deals with third countries and more foreign criminals to be deported.

Twenty-seven of the 46 Council of Europe members including the UK, Hungary and Italy have signed an unofficial statement that also urges a new framework for the European convention of human rights, which will also narrow the definition of “inhuman and degrading treatment”.

The statement follows a meeting of the council in Strasbourg on Wednesday as part of a push to change the way the laws apply in migration cases.

France, Spain and Germany are among those countries that have declined to sign the statement, instead putting their names to a separate, official declaration backed by all 46 governments.

The two separate statements are signs of deep divisions across Europe over how to tackle irregular migration, and whether to continue to guarantee rights for refugees and economic migrants.

The letter signed by 27 countries said that article 3 of the convention, which bans “inhuman or degrading treatment” should be “constrained to the most serious issues in a manner which does not prevent states parties from taking proportionate decisions on the expulsion of foreign criminals … including in cases raising issues concerning healthcare and prison conditions”.

It also argues that article 8 of the convention should be “adjusted” in relation to criminals so that more weight is put on the nature and seriousness of the offence committed and less on a criminal’s ties with the host country.

The rest of the 27 signatories are: Denmark, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine.

in Rome

In other news, Unesco has officially recognised Italian cooking as a cultural beacon, an endorsement hailed by the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, whose government has put the country’s food at the heart of its nationalistic expression of identity.

The announcement, made on Wednesday during the UN cultural body’s assembly in Delhi, means Italian cuisine – from pasta and mozzarella to wine and tiramisu – will be inscribed on the coveted list of “intangible cultural heritage”.

Italy already has 21 other traditions on the list, including the art of Neapolitan pizza making and opera singing, and it is the first country to be recognised for its cuisine in its entirety rather than for a single tradition or recipe.

In a video message posted on her Instagram account within minutes of the announcement, Meloni said the news filled her with pride.

“We are the first in the world to receive this recognition, which honours who we are and our identity,” she said. “For us Italians, cuisine is more than just food or a collection of recipes. It’s much more than that: it’s culture, tradition, work and wealth.”

Europe environment correspondent

Datacentres, AI gigafactories and affordable housing may be exempt from mandatory environmental impact assessments in the EU under a proposal that advances the European Commission’s rollback of green rules.

The latest in a series of packages to cut red tape calls for permitting processes for critical projects to be sped up and reducing the scope of environmental reporting rules for businesses.

The proposed overhaul would expand the list of strategic sectors to count datacentres, in line with the EU’s ambitions to become a global leader in AI, and affordable housing, to improve labour mobility. Member states would be free to decide whether such projects should be subject to environmental impact assessments.

Other parts of the simplification plan include repealing a hazardous chemical database that lists “substances of concern in products”; removing requirements on EU polluters to have authorised representatives in member states where they sell their products; and pushing the need for environmental management systems in farms and industry from the level of plants to that of companies.

You can read the full report here:

We have also had unconfirmed reports in the last half hour that another meeting of European leaders on Ukraine is planned for Monday in Berlin, a week on from the latest summit in London.

We will keep an eye on this and bring you the official confirmation if/when we get it.

Meanwhile, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he wanted the US to remain a partner of Germany despite a changing nature of their relationship, saying he would also defend his country’s record on migration when he next meets Donald Trump.

“We are preparing ourselves for a change in transatlantic relations. But I would still like to see it as a partnership, and I hope that America sees it the same way in its relations with Europe and also with Germany,” Merz told reporters.

The speech ends with a simple, but deeply moving, promise:

“Venezuela will breathe again.

We will open prison doors and watch thousands who were unjustly detained step into the warm sun, embraced at last by those who never stopped fighting for them.

We will see grandmothers settle children on their laps to tell them stories not of distant forefathers, but of their own parents’ courage.

We will see our students debate ideas passionately and without fear, their voices rising freely at last.

We will hug again. Fall in love again. Hear our streets fill with laughter and music.

All the simple joys the world takes for granted will be ours.”

She says:

“Because in the end, our journey towards freedom has always lived inside us.

We are returning to ourselves. We are returning home.”

Ana Corina gets a standing ovation for delivering her mother’s lecture.

María Corina Machado’s daughter now reads her Nobel peace prize lecture.

It begins:

“I have come here to tell you a story: the story of a people and their long march toward freedom.

This march brings me here today as one voice among millions of Venezuelans who rose, once again, to reclaim the destiny that was always theirs.

Venezuela was born of audacity, shaped by peoples and cultures intertwined. From Spain we inherited a language, a culture, and a faith that merged with ancestral Indigenous and African roots.”

It’s a moving, personal story of what happens when democracy is taken for granted, as “even the strongest democracy weakens when its citizens forget that freedom is not something we wait for, but something we become.”

In what can sound like a warning for many, she says:

“My generation was born in a vibrant democracy, and we took it for granted. We assumed freedom was as permanent as the air we breathed. We cherished our rights, but we forgot our duties.

…

By the time we recognised how fragile our institutions had become, a man who had once led a military coup to overthrow the democracy, was elected president. Many thought charisma could substitute the rule of law. “

Just before delivering the lecture, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, confirms that her mother will be in Oslo “in just a few hours.”

She says:

“And as I wait that moment to hug her, to kiss her, to embrace her, after two years, I think of the other daughters and sons who do not get to see their mothers.

Today, this is what drives her. What drives all of us. She wants to live in a free, Venezuela and she will never give up on that purpose.”

Jørgen Watne Frydes ends on a strong note as he says that “freedom is drawing closer” in Venezuela, and says “let a new age dawn.”

He says:

“Today, we honour Maria Corina Machado.

We pay tribute as well to all who wait in the dark.

All who have been arrested and tortured, or have disappeared.

All who continue to hope.

All those in Caracas and other cities of Venezuela who are forced to whisper the language of freedom.

May they hear us now.

May they realise that the world is not turning away.

That freedom is drawing closer.

And that Venezuela will become peaceful and democratic.

Let a new age dawn.”

In a direct passage addressing Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, calls on him to step down and accept the democratic result.

He says:

“Therefore, here today, in this hall – with all the gravity that attends the Nobel Peace Prize and this annual ceremony – we will say what authoritarian leaders fear most:

Your power is not permanent.

Your violence will not prevail over people who rise and resist.

Mr Maduro,

You should accept the election results and step down.

Lay the foundation for a peaceful transition to democracy.

Because that is the will of the Venezuelan people.

Maria Corina Machado and the Venezuelan opposition have lit a flame that no torture, no lie and no fear can extinguish.

When the history of our time is written, it won’t be the names of the authoritarian rulers that stand out – but the names of those who dared resist.”

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, is now delivering his opening speech.

It’s a damning verdict on Maduro’s authoritarian rule in Venezuela, as he talks about a number of figures facing repression and torture from the regime.

“Anyone who still believes in stating the truth out loud may disappear violently into a system built specifically to eradicate this belief,” he says.

He adds:

“As we sit here in Oslo City Hall, innocent people are locked away in dark cells in Venezuela. They cannot hear the speeches given today – only the screams of prisoners being tortured.”

He continues:

Venezuela has evolved into a brutal, authoritarian state facing a deep humanitarian and economic crisis. Meanwhile, a small elite at the top – shielded by political power, weapons and legal impunity – enriches itself.

He warns that:

“A quarter of the population has already fled the country – one of the world’s largest refugee crises.

Those who remain live under a regime that systematically silences, harasses and attacks the opposition.”

Turning to a broader theme, he says:

“Venezuela is not alone in this darkness. The world is on the wrong track. The authoritarians are gaining.

We must ask the inconvenient question:

Why is it so hard for us to preserve democracy – a form of government that was conceived to protect our freedom and peace?”

He warns that “more and more countries, including those with long democratic traditions, are drifting towards authoritarianism and militarism.”

“Authoritarian regimes learn from each other. They share technology and propaganda systems. Behind Maduro stand Cuba, Russia, Iran, China and Hezbollah – providing weapons, surveillance and economic lifelines. They make the regime more robust, and more brutal.”

The Oslo ceremony is about to get under way in the next few minutes.

You can follow it on our live stream here:

Further to the previous update, the Nobel Institute has now released an audio recording of their recent phone conversation with María Corina Machado.

In it, she says “in person I’ll let you know … what we had to go through and so many people that risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo, and I’m very grateful to them, and this is a measure of what this recognition means for the Venezuelan people.”

She then continues with her formal thanks for the award:

“First of all, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, once again, I want to thank the Norwegian Nobel committee for this immense recognition to the fight of our people for democracy and freedom.

We feel very emotional and very honoured, and that’s why I’m very sad and very sorry to tell you that I won’t be able to arrive in time for the ceremony, but I will be in Oslo and on my way to Oslo right now.

I know that there are hundreds of Venezuelans from different parts of the world that were able to reach your city, that are right now in Oslo, as well as my family, my team, so many colleagues.

Since this is a prize for all Venezuelans, I believe that it will be received by them.

As soon as I arrive, I will be able to embrace all my family and my children that I’ve have not seen for three years, and so many Venezuelans, Norwegians, that I know that share our struggle and our fight.

Thank you very much and see you soon.”

Meanwhile, we are getting a line from France, with the government spokesperson confirming that the Coalition of the Willing will meet on Thursday virtually to discuss the next steps on Ukraine.

The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is “safe” and “will be” in Oslo after “a journey in a situation of extreme danger,” although she will not attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony this afternoon, organisers have said.

Machado has been seen only once in public since going into hiding in August last year amid a tense showdown with the president, Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela’s attorney general has said Machado, 58, would be considered a “fugitive” if she left the country to accept the award.

Machado has accused Maduro of stealing Venezuela’s July 2024 election, from which she was banned. Her claim is backed by much of the international community.

The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military buildup in the Caribbean in recent weeks and deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats. Maduro has said the goal of the US operations – which Machado has said are justified – is to topple the government and seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.

After confusion about whether she would get to the Norwegian capital or attend the event – with earlier reports saying she would not, and the award would be accepted by her daughter – the Nobel committee said this morning that she “will be with us in Oslo”, without specifying the timeline or confirming any details.

In a statement, the committee said:

“The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Corina Machado, has done everything in her power to come to the ceremony today. A journey in a situation of extreme danger. Although she will not be able to reach the ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe and that she will be with us in Oslo.”

The ceremony will begin at midday UK time, 1pm local time in Oslo, and I will follow it for you here.

Among reactions to Trump’s recent comments, there is also a strong line from Pope Leo, who briefly spoke with reporters last night, after meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in the day.

While he declined to comment on the US peace plan pursued by Trump, he said:

“Unfortunately, I believe that some aspects of what I have seen would bring about a huge change in what has, for many, many years, been a true alliance between Europe and the United States.”

He added:

“Remarks that are made about Europe, also in interviews recently, I think, are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.”

“It’s a programme that President Trump and his advisers put together. He’s the president United States, has a right to do that. … While perhaps many people United States would be in agreement I think many others will just see things in a different way.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said US President Donald Trump’s latest statements on Ukraine – in which he said Moscow will win the war and that Kyiv will have to cede land – align with Russia’s view, AFP reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Trump’s recent comments were “very important” and added:

“In many ways, on the subject of Nato membership, on the subject of territories, on the subjects of how Ukraine is losing land, it is in tune with our understanding.”

Peskov was also cautious in responding to Zelenskyy’s move on elections, saying “we will see how the events will unfold.”

The Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today.

As Europeans reflect on Trump’s latest comments on Europe and the new US national security strategy, here is analysis from Cas Mudde, a leading academic working on far-right movements in Europe.

On the same day that Donald Trump received his made-to-order “peace prize” from his newest pal, Fifa president “Johnny” Infantino, his administration published an equally gaudy national security strategy. The relatively short document oozes Trump and Trumpism. It starts out with the typically modest claim that the president has brought “our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster”.

Even if the strategy mostly formalises the ongoing actions and statements of Trump and his administration, it should be heeded as a warning for the world, and Europe in particular.

The document espouses an aggressive form of foreign-policy interference in which the US explicitly sets itself the goal of “promoting European greatness”. Its language could have been directly lifted from Viktor Orbán’s speeches during the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-16: “We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilisational self-confidence.” Even more ominously, the document claims that Europe’s “economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure”.

The whole section on Europe is steeped in decades of European far-right ideology and propaganda.

None of this is necessarily new – think of JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference in which the vice-president launched an ideological attack on Europe’s democratic model.

But perhaps now that it is published in an official document, European leaders will finally understand that “daddy” is serious. And, if the document is too long or vague for them, let me summarise it in terms that are clear and concise: the current US government believes that its national security is best served by the destruction of liberal democracy in Europe. In other words, the US is not (just) an unwilling ally, it is a willing adversary.

Time to act accordingly.

Separately, there is also an important meeting in Strasbourg, with ministers from 46 countries discussing the interpretation of the European Convention of Human Rights when it comes to migration.

As Pippa Crerar and Rajeev Syal say in our story:

Ahead of the meeting, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen have called on European leaders to urgently curb joint human rights laws so that states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent.

Before a crucial European summit on Wednesday, the prime ministers urged fellow members to “go further” in modernising the interpretation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) to prevent asylum seekers using it to avoid deportation.

But writing for the Guardian, they said that updating the interpretation of the convention was urgently required to confront the challenges posed by mass migration – and far-right forces that sought to divide mainstream opinion across Europe.

“The best way of fighting against the forces of hate and division, is to show that mainstream, progressive politics can fix this problem,” Starmer wrote in a joint article with the Danish leader, Mette Frederiksen.

“Listening to legitimate concerns and acting on them is what our politics is about. That’s not empty populism, it’s democracy. We are determined to show that our societies can act with compassion while upholding law and order, and fairness.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three months, if Ukraine’s parliament and foreign allies will allow it, after Donald Trump accused him of clinging on to power.

As Shaun Walker writes from Kyiv, Zelenskyy, clearly irritated by Trump’s intervention, said that “this is a question for the people of Ukraine, not people from other states, with all due respect to our partners”.

However, he promised to explore avenues for holding a vote in the coming months. “Since this question is raised today by the president of the United States of America, our partners, I will answer very briefly: look, I am ready for elections,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening.

Zelenskyy’s five-year term expired in May last year, but the Ukrainian constitution prohibits elections in wartime, and even his political opponents have said repeatedly that the security and political considerations do not allow for holding an election during wartime.

Zelenskyy’s move also seeks to put more pressure on allies to offer extensive security guarantees as the US-led peace talks progress slowly, with guarantees among the issues yet to be decided.

His comments come in the aftermath of an explosive interview by Trump with Politico, in which he repeatedly criticised EU leaders as “weak” and Europe as “decaying” as a result of their policies. Expect more leaders to respond to his claims in the coming days.

Finally, EU’s European ministers are meeting in Lviv for an informal meeting, which will cover talks about Ukraine’s ambitions to join the bloc.

I will bring you all the key updates throughout the day.

It’s Wednesday, 10 December 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.