Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
European Leaders Discuss Migration and Ukraine at a UK Summit as Concern Grows About Direction of US
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 months ago on
July 18, 2024

European leaders gather at a UK summit to discuss migration, Ukraine, and concerns over the US's future reliability as an ally. (AP/Stefan Rousseau)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WOODSTOCK, England — Leaders from across Europe expressed support for Ukraine and concern about the direction of the United States on Thursday at a security-focused summit clouded by worries about whether the U.S. will remain a reliable ally if Donald Trump wins a second presidency.

Newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed around 45 heads of government to a grandiose English country mansion to discuss migration, energy security and the threat from Russia as he seeks to restore relations between the U.K. and its European Union neighbors four years after their acrimonious divorce.

The venue for the European Political Community meeting, Blenheim Palace, was the birthplace of Britain’s World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Starmer said the leaders were gathering “as a new storm gathers over our continent.”

“Our first task here today is to confirm our steadfast support for Ukraine, to unite once again behind those values that we cherish and to say we will face down aggression on this continent together,” Starmer said, adding that the threat from Russia “reaches right across Europe.”

Zelenskyy a Key Guest as Europe Shores Up Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a key guest at the meeting, aimed at shoring up Europe’s support for his country’s defense and discussing ways to defend democracy. The U.K. accuses Moscow of seeking to undermine European democracies with cyberattacks, disinformation and sabotage.

Others making the trip to Blenheim Palace, a Baroque country mansion 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of London, included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stayed away as she fought to secure a second term from lawmakers in the European Parliament, which she received as the summit was underway.

A brainchild of Macron, the EPC was established in 2022 as a forum for countries both inside and outside the 27-nation EU after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine shattered Europe’s sense of security. Previous summits have been held in the Czech capital, Prague; Chisinau, Moldova; and Granada, Spain.

UK Aims to Rebuild Ties With EU and Take More Active Global Role

Starmer’s center-left government aims to rebuild ties with the EU strained by years of ill-tempered wrangling over Brexit divorce terms. A key priority is a new U.K.-EU security pact that Starmer hopes to strike soon.

“We are confident that a new chapter will be opened with the U.K.,” European Council President Charles Michel said as he arrived.

Starmer said that the U.K. plans to take a more active role on the world stage, especially when it comes to Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion and to people-smuggling gangs organizing irregular migration.

He told fellow leaders that under his government, the U.K. would be “a friend and a partner, ready to work with you — not part of the European Union, but very much part of Europe.”

He said that under him, “we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights” — something the previous Conservative U.K. government had flirted with, to the alarm of the U.K.’s European allies.

The U.K. plans to work more closely with the European police agency Europol against people smuggling, part of measures to beef up border security following Starmer’s decision to scrap the Conservatives’ contentious and unrealized plan to send migrants arriving in the U.K. by boat on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

Starmer urged European nations to cooperate against “the vile trade of people smuggling.”

“Let’s be frank — ‘challenge’ is the wrong word,” he said. “It is now, I think, a crisis. We must combine our resources, share intelligence, share tactics, shut down the smuggling routes and smash the gangs.”

Starmer will hold a dinner for Macron on Thursday evening, where the two men will discuss what more can be done to stop thousands of migrants each year making hazardous journeys across the English Channel from France.

When Britain agreed earlier this year to hold the one-day summit, Conservative leader Rishi Sunak was prime minister. His defeat in a July 4 election meant that it was Starmer who welcomed leaders to Blenheim Palace — a key getting-to-know-you moment for the new leader.

Delegates were being treated to full British hospitality — including strawberries with cream and a reception hosted by King Charles III — and to mingle informally in a “leaders’ lounge” and the palace’s ornate gardens.

Concerns About US Reliability Amid Trump’s Skepticism of NATO

Many thoughts strayed to the U.S., where the weekend assassination attempt on Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, underscored how febrile and polarized politics has become before the Nov. 5 election.

Trump’s skepticism about NATO has long worried U.S. allies. Trump’s choice of Sen. JD Vance, an opponent of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, as vice presidential running mate has heightened concerns.

Politicians and officials at the summit stressed the need for Europe to show it was taking steps to protect its own security.

“European countries must stand on their own legs more than ever,” Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof said.

That sentiment was echoed by several other leaders, but not by Hungary’s pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has riled other EU nations with a series of rogue meetings with foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, about Ukraine.

Orbán said a Trump victory would be “the best news for everybody, because he’s a man of the people.”

Zelenskyy appeared to refer to Orbán when he urged European nations to remain united.

“If someone wants to make some trips to the capital of war to talk and perhaps promise something against our common interests, or to the expense of Ukraine or other countries, then why should we consider such a person?” Zelenskyy said. “The EU and NATO can also address all their issues without this one individual.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

DON'T MISS

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

DON'T MISS

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

DON'T MISS

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

DON'T MISS

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

DON'T MISS

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

DON'T MISS

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

DON'T MISS

New Decisions Boost California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, but Major Hurdles Remain

DON'T MISS

Only $20K More to Bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Fresno

DON'T MISS

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

UP NEXT

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

UP NEXT

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

UP NEXT

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

UP NEXT

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

UP NEXT

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

UP NEXT

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

UP NEXT

New Decisions Boost California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, but Major Hurdles Remain

UP NEXT

Only $20K More to Bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Fresno

UP NEXT

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

UP NEXT

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

23 minutes ago

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

4 hours ago

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

1 day ago

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

1 day ago

New Decisions Boost California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, but Major Hurdles Remain

1 day ago

Only $20K More to Bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Fresno

1 day ago

Jeffrey Sachs Warns of Looming US War With Iran

2 days ago

Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

2 days ago

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

2 days ago

Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

2 days ago

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

NEW YORK — Stocks edged lower in morning trading on Wall Street Monday at the start of a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. ...

2 minutes ago

2 minutes ago

Stock Market Today: Honda-Nissan Merger Talks Shake up Otherwise Quiet on Wall Street

This screenshot from Donald Trump's Truth Social account shows am image of President-elect Donald Trump standing beside a Canadian flag. Trump’s recent summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in negotiating trade policy and diplomacy. For Trump, they’ve also become fodder for trolling. (Truth Social via AP)
7 minutes ago

Trump Again Calls to Buy Greenland After Eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal

Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan Criminal court for his arraignment on state murder and terror charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in New York. (AP/Seth Wenig)
13 minutes ago

Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to Murder and Weapons Charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Death

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R- Fla., speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
23 minutes ago

House Ethics Committee Accuses Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex With Women, Including Minor

4 hours ago

New Board Members Join Merced County’s Largest School District, Guiding It Into 2025

1 day ago

‘It’s Living Hell’: Nurses Say CA Addiction Recovery Program Ended Their Careers

1 day ago

Santa Who? Bizarre Christmas Traditions Stealing the Holiday Spotlight

1 day ago

New Decisions Boost California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, but Major Hurdles Remain

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend