A German-French initiative for coordinating European plans for a ceasefire in Ukraine should be launched, the head of the German parliament's foreign policy committee told dpa. "Europe must make its own strong foreign and security policy," Armin Laschet, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said. "This includes being autonomous, being sovereign and not conveying our own European ideas via American mediators," he said. Laschet said a European peace plan agreed with Ukraine was needed, which could then be presented to Russia from a position of strength. He noted that Europe had worked out its own peace plan and conveyed this to Russia through US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law. Needing Witkoff and Kushner to convey something to Moscow was not an indication of European self-confidence or sovereignty, Laschet said. French President Emmanuel Macron said recently that it could be useful for Europe and Ukraine to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to be directly involved in a ceasefire agreement. Putin has stated his readiness to talk to Macron, and Paris intends to decide how these talks could take place. Laschet called for any initiative on contact with Moscow to be launched by Berlin and Paris together. "Without Germany and France, Europe cannot take shape," he said. Talks between Macron and Putin had to be embedded in Europe, Laschet said, noting that Macron had always backed European solutions. Laschet, a CDU veteran, is seen as a passionate supporter of German-French cooperation and has been rewarded by Paris with France's Legion of Honour decoration.