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LAST UPDATE | 18 Jul 2024
NEW UK PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has told a major European summit he’s hosting today that his government will be a “friend and a partner” to European allies.
The European Political Community summit is being held today in the grandiose Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the wartime Conservative Prime Minister has been referenced on a number of occasions, including by Starmer himself.
Starmer vowed that his government “will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights”, adding that “Churchill himself was one of the chief architects of the Convention”.
“It was built on the bloodbond of 1945 and our shared sacrifice for freedom,” he said.
The ECHR was regularly criticised by Tory ministers in the previous UK government, who regularly threated to leave the agreement.
Speaking about co-operation on tackling illegal migration, Starmer that his government was “resetting our approach here”.
And that’s why we scrapped the unworkable Rwanda scheme on day one. And it’s why we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
In his speech, Starmer also reiterated his government’s “steadfast support for Ukraine”, saying: “Every day Ukraine fights affects not just the Ukrainian people, but the European people.”
The EPC was the brainchild of France’s Emmanuel Macron and involves 20 non-EU nations including the UK as well as the 27-strong EU bloc.
It means that 47 leaders are in attendance, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Speaking not long after Starmer, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also quoted Churchill, saying: “It is not enough that we do our best, sometimes we have to do what’s required.”
Beyond the summit, Zelenskyy is set to separate talks with Starmer and meet King Charles III.
“We will sign an intergovernmental agreement on support for the Ukrainian defence and industrial complex, discuss future defense cooperation, and expand our defense capabilities,” Zelensky wrote on X.
Taoiseach
Today’s summit follows Starmer’s meeting last night with Taoiseach Simon Harris, where the pair toasted another “reset”, on this occasion relations between Ireland and the UK.
That meeting was held in Chequers, the traditional countryside home of the UK PM, with both leaders agreeing to a new annual summit to “focus on key issues”.
The two have agreed to meet again in Dublin on 7 September, which is set to coincide with the Republic of Ireland and England men’s football teams facing off against each other at the Avida Stadium.
Speaking afterwards, Harris said he believes there is an opportunity to return to a “Bertie-Blair relationship”.
In a statement from Blenheim Palace today, Harris said the British Government under Starmer “wants to actively talk about a closer relationship with Europe, staying within the ECHR working closely with Ireland, talking about language around co-guarantor of the peace process”.
Harris said this is a “very different landscape to the one we would have been discussing were we standing here only weeks ago”.
The call for a unified voice from Europe comes after Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban – who was attending the UK meeting – upset his EU counterparts by meeting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Orban visited Moscow on 5 July as part of what he described as a “peace mission” over the war in Ukraine that also involved visits to Kyiv, Beijing and former US president Donald Trump.
As he arrived at Blenheim, Orban told reporters in English when asked about his message to Ukraine: “We are with you.”
But he added: “It is impossible to find a solution in the battlefield. Solution is not in the battlefield.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attended an EPC meeting for the first time, as did the heads of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.
“We will not be coerced. We will continue to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said on arrival.
Starmer, who supported Britain remaining in the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum, has ruled out rejoining the European single market, customs union or freedom of movement.
But he does want to negotiate a new security pact with the bloc and a veterinary agreement to ease border checks on agricultural foods, as well as an improved trading deal.
Speaking today, he said that “Britain will be a friend and a partner ready to work with you.”
Not part of the European Union, but very much part of Europe. Not focused on the differences between us, but on the values that we share. United by our determination to defend them and certain about what we can achieve together.
Starmer will hold several bilateral conversations with European leaders during the conference, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Taoiseach.
Starmer will join a session on migration co-chaired by Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Speaking about the issue today, Starmer said:
This summit is an opportunity to set a new path on illegal migration, to transform the way that we work together on border security and law enforcement and to say together ‘no more’. And in the UK, our new border security command will work in partnership with you,
“There’s no silver bullet,” said French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrived at the summit, the morning after one migrant died and 71 others were rescued off the French coast.
“I think our cooperation to prevent this migration before the arrivals is the most efficient one,” he added.
A high-ranking EU official said there were “good vibes” in the early contacts with the new Labour government.
“But let’s see,” the official added. “Now we need to go deeper.”
Taoiseach Simon Harris is set to take part in a roundtable discussion on securing and defending democracy and he will also have a number of bilateral meetings.
Speaking ahead of this morning’s EPC, the Taoiseach said:
The meeting will be a very useful opportunity for me to meet those colleagues not in the EU, including from the Western Balkans and the Caucasus, together with my EU colleagues to discuss the challenges that face us all and to hear their views on how we should respond.
“Our response to the grave Russian threat to our values and our way of life and our ongoing steadfast support for Ukraine will be a particular focus.”
- With reporting by © – AFP 2024 and Press Association
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