At the European Political Community (EPC) summit on Thursday 18 July at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, declared his country’s desire to “redefine our relationship with the EU”.
He said he was convinced that the UK and the EU, working together as sovereign partners, “are a powerful force for good across our continent, for peace, for security, for prosperity, for all our people.”.
“But now we must see the job through”, he said, referring to the need to speed up the transition to clean energy, to help Ukraine meet its energy needs before winter and to tackle the ships that are helping Russia evade sanctions (see other news).
“We are going to strengthen our cooperation on defence and security issues and illegal migration”, said Mr Starmer at a final press conference at the end of the EPC summit, which was attended by 46 delegations (Turkey was absent), after congratulating Ursula von der Leyen, who had been re-elected to the European Parliament as President of the Commission (see other news).
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, expressed his confidence in the possibility of “opening a new chapter” in relations with the United Kingdom. He spoke of “stronger cooperation” to be envisaged, particularly on the subject of migration, but not only that.
At this stage, however, the UK has no intention of going back on its exit from the EU.
Immigration. Keir Starmer also said at the EPC that the summit was an opportunity to set a new path in the fight against illegal immigration. “We must [...] share tactics, shut down the smuggling routes and smash the gangs”, he said.
He believes that the crisis of a “vile trade of people smuggling”, a “criminal empire [...] at work in every country represented here today, profiting off human misery and desperation”, must be resolved.
He promised to tackle the issue of immigration “with humanity and with a profound respect for international law”. “Which is why we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights”, promised the British Prime Minister.
Rishi Sunak’s previous Conservative government had fiercely criticised the ECHR, in particular some of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, guarantor of the convention, which had blocked the British plan to deport migrants to Rwanda.
Mr Starmer also promised to strengthen the UK’s presence within theEuropean Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), the agency based in The Hague. He also spoke of his country’s new arrangements with Slovakia and Slovenia to fight organised crime, and exchanges with European partners on intelligence data. To tackle the root causes of the problem, the Prime Minister has announced a further £84 million for projects in Africa and the Middle East (humanitarian and educational support).
Democracy. At his press conference, Keir Starmer stressed the need to “defend our democracies against Russian interference” and to support Moldova in this context.
France and Moldova also want to launch a cooperation network at EPC level to combat foreign interference and the manipulation of information.
The President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced that she will propose the introduction of a European shield to protect democracy (see other news). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)