German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appears optimistic that he will be able to agree with US President-elect Donald Trump on a joint strategy for Ukraine, having already spoken to him by phone.

“I am optimistic that we can develop a common strategy for Ukraine,” Chancellor Solz said in an interview he gave to the Funke publishing group and which is published today.

He emphasizes that he considers it of utmost importance that “nothing can be decided without the opinion of the Ukrainian people”. “It’s something I made clear to President (of Ukraine) Zelensky during my visit to Kiev at the beginning of the week,” he adds.

Chancellor Scholz points out that he has spoken “in detail” with the US president-elect and that his staff is in contact with Trump’s advisers.

The interview comes ahead of the arrival of several European leaders in the French capital for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, which will be the occasion for intense consultations and a possible “tete-a-tete” between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The two men met in September in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, but this will be their first meeting since Trump won the US presidential election.

The war in Ukraine is expected to be a major issue in Germany’s election campaign, following the collapse of the three-party governing coalition last month, which led to an early run to the polls in February.

Friedrich Merz, the conservative opposition leader who is favorite to succeed Solz as chancellor, has come out in favor of sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Olaf Solz did not support this move, believing it could escalate the war.

On Monday, Scholz announced a new military aid package to Ukraine during a rare visit to Kiev, which he said sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Germany would stand by Ukraine as long as needed.