Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I genuinely believe the US Administration and President Trump want to see an end to the war. I believe they want to see a ceasefire. It is fair to say that there have been different tactical or strategic approaches to how to bring that about on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe has been clear on the sanctions and the need to exert maximum economic pressure. However, - and I say this quite objectively; I picked this up at our meeting in Luxembourg yesterday - there are now good lines of communication between European leaders and the Trump Administration. It is important we keep closely aligned on this. While we might have different political perspectives from time to time across the Atlantic Ocean, we have always cherished certain values, such as freedom, democracy, not rewarding aggression, territorial integrity and sovereignty and peace.

The idea that there is now likely to be some engagement between President Putin and President Trump on European Union soil in Hungary is somewhat provocative. We want to make sure the EU and US are very aligned on what might take place at those talks.

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