EUROPEAN LEADERS filed into the Elysée Palace on February 17th in bright sunshine, and sombre mood. They were still reeling from the message conveyed at the weekend by members of Donald Trump’s administration: that Europeans have no place at peace talks between America and Russia over Ukraine and that “stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” as the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, put it. Before the hastily called meeting Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, called it a “generational challenge” for the continent.