German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) is welcomed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the European Political Community Summit at Blenheim Palace on July 18, 2024 in Woodstock, England.
Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Good pictures
OXFORD, England – Keir Starmer, England’s new Labor prime minister, will seek to mend fractured ties with Europe on Thursday as he hosts more than 45 heads of state from across the continent at Winston Churchill’s birthplace.
Starmer will tell the European Political Summit that the challenges facing Europe cannot be met alone and that the region must work together to present a united front on security and defence.
“We cannot allow the challenges of the recent past to define future relationships,” Starmer said on Wednesday. Report From Downing Street.
“That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and security priorities, and why I am using this moment to renew our relationship with Europe,” he said.
Starmer will tell attendees at an opening speech at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, that his new UK government will take a “much more active and more coordinating role” on the global stage.
The threat of a second presidential term for Republican nominee Donald Trump looms large across Europe after an assassination attempt spurred support for the former president over the weekend.
Both Trump and his newly announced running mate, JD Vance, have indicated that Europe — especially Ukraine — is not guaranteed under a second Trump administration. The Republican presidential candidate has repeatedly lambasted the continent’s lack of defense spending and threatened to pull out of NATO, while Vance has shown ambivalence about US involvement in foreign affairs.
European NATO members are increasing their defense spending, including Starmer’s new commitment to spend 2.5% of UK gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
Thursday’s meeting is an early opportunity for Starmer to meet key European allies on home soil following his election on July 4, after attending a NATO summit in Washington last week.
Leaders of the European Union 27 Member StatesAnd 20 other heads of state from across the region arrived Thursday to attend a one-day EPC summit at the historic English country house.
For the first time this year, the forum is attended by members of NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.
It was the fourth time the EPC forum was created in 2022 by French President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Forum’s objectives are to foster political dialogue and cooperation, and to strengthen Europe’s security, stability and prosperity. Sessions on Thursday included three roundtables on migration, energy and connectivity, and preserving and protecting democracy.
Discussions about a post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal are off the table, however, with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy telling BBC Breakfast on Thursday that the two sides are “nowhere near” such a deal.
The summit has faced criticism in the past from those who have questioned the value of having another political group, notably when a previous summit in Granada, Spain closed with few concrete actions.