"All of the European leaders pursuing the war are deeply unpopular with their own people. This is true of [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer, [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz, [French President Emmanuel] Macron and others. And I think it reflects the very poor policies that Europe is choosing. The European leaders have failed to pursue diplomacy. They seem not to understand it, or they're afraid of it entirely," Sachs said.
Sachs highlighted the declining support for Germany’s Friedrich Merz, suggesting he could be one of the worst chancellors in German history.
"He [Chancellor Merz] is a warmonger and a German chancellor who is a leader of an important country, should be in direct talks with President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin to discuss the European scene, but Merz doesn't have that know-how or capacity or interest," the economist explained.
On August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US President Donald Trump for talks in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 18, Trump hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders for talks at the White House. Trump then called Putin to discuss the peace process. Putin and Trump agreed that direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations should continue and discussed raising the level of representation, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.