Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet at the Federal Chancellery on Wednesday 19 October. The Normandy format meeting will focus on the implementation of the Minsk agreements for eastern Ukraine.

The implementation of the Minsk agreements is stalling "at many points" said the Chancellor on Tuesday 18 October during a visit of President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama to Berlin. More progress must be made on a ceasefire and on humanitarian and political matters, she said. "No miracles should be expected from this meeting," declared Angela Merkel. But no stone should be left unturned in efforts to get the stalled implementation of the Minsk agreements moving again.

Following the meeting of the four, the Chancellor will be discussing the dramatic situation in Syria with the French and Russian Presidents.

Intensive telephone diplomacy

Over the last few days there have been repeated top-level telephone conversations relating to the Ukraine conflict. Most recently, the Chancellor and the French President spoke again on Sunday 16 October with the Ukrainian President. On 12 and 13 October the two had spoken together with the Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as holding bilateral conversations (made necessary by scheduling difficulties) with Petro Poroshenko.

All these phone calls, said federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert at the government press conference on Monday 17 October served to pave the way for a summit meeting, as did the negotiations of foreign policy advisors in Minsk. For any meeting of the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine (which is known as the Normandy format) "more work was needed on the part of the advisors".

On 6 June 2014 Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Vladimir Putin, Petro Poroshenko and François Hollande who were all attending the commemoration of the D-Day landings in Normandy. It was the first time the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents had met since the start of the crisis. Since then meetings involving representatives of these four countries have been termed "Normandy format" meetings.

Implementation of Minsk remains central

The telephone calls of the Chancellor always focused on the implementation of the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, in particular reinforcing the ceasefire, disengaging troops and the necessary next steps leading up to local elections in the Donbas region. All sides agreed that progress must be made both on security issues and on political matters.

"Minsk is all that we have, it is the only thing we can all relate to and that points a peaceful and political road forward for all parties," noted Steffen Seibert. Over the last one and a half years the Normandy format has "proved its worth as a format in which we can make at least some progress". This is why the point can always come when new impetus is needed in the form of a meeting at the level of the Chancellor and the three Presidents, and where this can make sense "in spite of all the obstacles in our way" said the government spokesperson.

The will to compromise is essential

At the government press conference on Wednesday 12 October, Steffen Seibert once again stated clearly, "There is a general willingness to hold a Normandy format meeting at the level of the Chancellor and the three Presidents." A meeting of this sort depends, however, on the implementation status of the Minsk agreements, he said, and to be more precise "on the will to move forward with the implementation of these agreements; in other words the will to agree on progress".

Since the Minsk package of measures was signed in February 2015 there have "basically been ongoing intensive negotiations at all levels in an effort to move forward with implementation," explained Steffen Seibert. This is still the case today.