PARIS — The Group of Seven's foreign ministers opened two days of talks in Paris on Monday, and Europe arrived with a message for Washington on both of the wars dominating the agenda. European top diplomats were set to press US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ensure any settlement in Russia's war against Ukraine is fair to Ukraine, and to steer clear of any new escalation with Iran, AFP reported from Paris on November 9.
Source: AFP via The Leaders Online, Nov 9 2026
The G7 brings together Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, alongside the European Union. Around the table in Paris are Rubio and his counterparts Johann Wadephul of Germany, Ed Miliband of Britain, Anita Anand of Canada, Jean-Noël Barrot of France, Antonio Tajani of Italy and Toshimitsu Motegi of Japan, according to the French hosts' list reported by AFP. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, is expected to join a dedicated session on Tuesday, and ministers from countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and Brazil are attending parts of the meeting, diplomats cited by Reuters said.
Source: Reuters/AFP via Zark News, Nov 9 2026
"Europe must have a place at the table"
The Paris meeting coincides with US-mediated talks between Moscow and Kyiv scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, November 10–11, in Abu Dhabi, and Europe's core anxiety is that Washington could offer Russia new security guarantees over the heads of the Europeans, or press Kyiv to accept disadvantageous conditions. "For Europe, it is clear: we do not need to establish a new security architecture for Europe," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said as he headed to the talks, adding that Europe "must have a place at the table". French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Sunday that Europeans will be represented at the Abu Dhabi talks, with France also participating — a point the Kremlin has previously disputed, saying the Abu Dhabi format is trilateral.
Source: AFP via The Leaders Online, Nov 9 2026
President Donald Trump stoked those fears by predicting a "very big" deal with Russia involving not only Ukraine but "all of Europe", AFP reported. Before leaving for Paris, Rubio said the post-war security infrastructure of Europe is "one of the key topics that's been raised repeatedly in every conversation any time negotiations have been discussed", adding: "We obviously have to get past the conflict to get to that point." Russia's war, launched with the full-scale invasion of February 2022, is grinding toward its fifth anniversary.
Source: AFP via The Leaders Online, Nov 9 2026
Rubio arrived in Paris straight from his hardest Iran briefing of the autumn — on Sunday he said the United States was not on the verge of a breakthrough with Tehran and called Iran's demands outrageous. Read that earlier development here: Rubio: no breakthrough with Iran as he flies to G7 talks in Paris
Iran: "We certainly cannot afford any military escalation"
On Iran, Trump has not ruled out new strikes, including at the suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain — a facility Tehran denies is a nuclear site. Europeans, eager to see a resolution and shipping traffic return to normal through the Strait of Hormuz energy chokepoint, want the opposite. Trump allayed some fears by telling CNN it was "highly unlikely" fighting would resume while talks progress. "We certainly cannot afford any military escalation at this point," Wadephul said, adding the G7 talks would "focus on identifying ways to ensure it is indeed avoided". Rubio, however, warned there had been "no progress" in talks with Iran, whose demands he called "simply not just unacceptable but, in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic".
Source: AFP via The Leaders Online, Nov 9 2026
The meeting is one of the final acts of the French G7 presidency, which saw President Emmanuel Macron host Trump at the leaders' summit this summer in the lakeside resort of Evian. It had long been scheduled for the southern port city of Marseille and was moved to Paris at the last minute, with only scheduling reasons given. The visit is Rubio's first abroad since the midterm elections — in which Trump's Republicans lost — and, unlike the March G7 meeting where he attended only one day, he is due at both days in Paris. "It is not uncommon to have a division of power in this country," Rubio said, referring to Democrats taking control of both houses of Congress from January. France has indicated the Paris meeting is not expected to produce a joint communiqué, a sign of the gaps the ministers are working around, according to diplomats cited in reports.
Source: AFP via African News Agency, Nov 9 2026
On the sidelines, the French finance ministry hosts a donor conference on Monday to raise funds to repair the dome protecting the reactor that exploded at Ukraine's Chernobyl plant in 1986, after it was damaged in a Russian strike last year. Around €500 million (yaani about €50 crore) is required and only just over half has been raised so far, with a target of spring 2027 to muster the rest, the finance ministry told AFP. Marseille, meanwhile, will still host the launch of a network of 14 global ports uniting to combat drug trafficking, Barrot said. What happens next runs on two tracks: the Paris ministers wrap up on Tuesday, the same day the Abu Dhabi talks open — and whether Europe is visibly inside that room will be the first test of the message delivered to Rubio in Paris.