Angela Merkel has been suggested as a good person to represent the European Union in direct talks with Russia on the Ukraine war. Her suitability for the role is controversial , as is whether and when such talks are advisable and what they should be about. Following recent remarks by Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump that the war may be coming to an end the EU needs to decide on these questions urgently if it is not to remain politically marginalised.Merkel’s huge experience as German chancellor from 2005 to 2021 and her deep knowledge of Russia qualify her in principle to conduct negotiations and represent the EU’s diverse interests. She was never as close to Russian positions and later commercial interests as one of her predecessors as chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who Putin has suggested as an intermediary. Critics say her approval of German energy dependence on Russia through gas pipelines should rule her out; but that policy was widely shared in Germany before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Since then, direct diplomacy by European states and the EU with Russia has been suspended, or abandoned altogether. The US and Russia have done the direct talking, while the EU has followed with economic and other sanctions in solidarity with Ukraine’s military resistance. Trump’s efforts to end the war by demanding Ukrainian territorial concessions has further fractured transatlantic relations which were already strained because of his administration’s hostility to European integration. His latest withdrawal of military support for Ukraine strengthens the case for independent EU diplomacy there. EU foreign ministers are due to discuss the envoy issue later this month though it is not clear whether agreement can be reached, with Poland and the Baltic states remaining reluctant. If the EU is to engage with Moscow, Merkel is a good choice for the role because of her vast experience of political negotiations. Whether circumstances – and politics – will allow this to happen is not yet clear.