Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.
EU foreign affairs ministers will today discuss how to find a face-saving outcome for the Ukraine peace summit on June 15-16 in Switzerland. US President Joe Biden is planning to skip the gathering for a Hollywood fundraiser, while China and Brazil are planning a rival initiative. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is imploring leaders to attend, but Moscow is actively trying to undermine participation of key powers. Brazil and India are floating the idea of sending more junior officials, and only a senior civil servant may attend from Beijing, we’re told. For the EU, the important issue is how to progress from next month’s conference to a possible meeting in Saudi Arabia in the autumn with the participation of Russia, officials said.