Starmer, a Brexit opponent, has been adamant that Britain will not rejoin the EU in his lifetime, but he used Thursday’s planned summit to begin reconciling a long-running dispute over the terms of Britain’s departure from the bloc.
In his opening address at Blenheim Palace, Starmer told the crowd: “We look forward to working with you to rebuild our relationships, rediscover our common interests and renew the bonds of trust and friendship that brighten European life.”
“I am proud to leave this summit with stronger relationships across Europe,” Starmer said at the closing press conference.
It may be an exaggeration to say what was achieved in a day of photo ops, breakout sessions and speed-dating bilateral meetings, but it does give Starmer some credit for the effort.
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to rip up the Brexit deal and Chancellor Rishi Sunak threatened to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights, former human rights lawyer Starmer pledged to have “deep respect for international law” and received nods of approval.
European leaders offered warm words about the reconciliation, with French President Emmanuel Macron telling broadcasters: “This is a great opportunity for a reset.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he had “great expectations” for a “new relationship” with the UK under Starmer.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said he was “delighted” that Britain wanted closer ties with Europe and called Starmer a “game changer.”
Some of the events at Blenheim Palace were reminiscent of a different world where Brexit never happened, but the scars remain.
Illegal immigration in particular remains a tense issue.
Starmer told the summit that Britain would “reset its approach” and work with European partners to put traffickers “out of business”, and announced 84 million pounds ($109 million) to Africa and the Middle East to tackle the root causes of illegal migration.
What’s not mentioned is what to do about people who cross the English Channel from France in small boats. Previous governments have wanted to send asylum seekers who arrive illegally to Rwanda. Mr Starmer has backed away from the idea, but it has shifted the focus back to the need for a better deal with France.
Asked at the summit whether he would agree to an immigration deal with Starmer, Macron sounded somewhat dismissive, saying there was “no silver bullet”.
“We are aware of the situation and we are doing our best. The situation has improved over the past few years and will continue to do so,” the French leader said.
The European Political Community meeting was conceived by Macron, a proponent of multilateralism, as a way to bring the EU closer to its neighbours, if not to accept new member states.
At the summit, the leaders will discuss things, but it is not aimed at producing any kind of “deliverables” or joint statements. In that sense, the risks of participating are low.
But Macron’s ability to steer Europe towards closer cooperation – and to assert himself as the continent’s de facto leader – has been constrained by successive defeats for his movement in European Parliament elections and French National Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, European leaders are upset and angry that Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has been using his country’s rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union as an excuse to fly to Moscow, Beijing and Mar-a-Lago on self-proclaimed “peace missions.”
Hungary’s leader wrote in a letter this week that he is confident former President Donald Trump will win the November election and that Europe should rethink its approach to the war accordingly.
Trump’s choice of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate has raised concerns in some European capitals that the political winds could shift and make it harder to rally allies around Ukraine. Like Trump, Senator Vance appears to think the West is overstating the threat posed by Putin and has warned against additional U.S. military aid.
“I don’t believe Vladimir Putin is an existential threat to Europe,” Vance said at the Munich Security Conference in February. “And if he is, it shows that Europe has to play a more active role in its own security.”
Inside the summit on Thursday, briefers said the bosses would probably discuss privately what a second Trump administration would mean for Europe.
European leaders have avoided publicly criticizing the former US president, wary of antagonizing him, and last week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made it clear he was “not afraid” of Trump being re-elected.
Zelensky, who sat to Starmer’s right at the summit, warned European leaders to remain vigilant against Putin: “He may try to get close to you, or approach some of your partners individually, and try to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you so that one of you will betray the rest.”
Whatever the European agenda, the summit seemed like a golden opportunity for Starmer to break away from the exiled Conservative governments of the past 14 years, which have often fought with and flouted the EU.
“There is already a much improved atmosphere,” said Catherine Barnard, an expert on European politics at the University of Cambridge, who said there is “if not humility, then at least a lack of arrogance, which will probably be welcomed” on the British side.
Just days after Foreign Secretary David Lammy took office, Britain’s top diplomat visited Germany, Poland and Sweden to meet foreign ministers.
Analysts say Britain will begin to repair ties with the EU by prioritizing discussions on security, and Labour may want to broaden the definition of security to include areas such as energy, climate, artificial intelligence and immigration.
“One of the great things about security is that no one really knows what security actually means,” Bernard said. It’s a “broad umbrella.”
Anand Menon, professor of politics at King’s College London, said the summit presented Starmer with the opportunity to undertake a series of first bilateral meetings.
There were also poolside pictures of Starmer strolling in the palace gardens with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and smiling as he shook hands with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who, as European Council president in 2019, said there was “a special place in hell” for “those who pushed through Brexit without even a sketch of a plan to do it safely”.
Mr Menon questioned why Mr Starmer was “personally so committed to a closer substantive relationship with the EU”.
“They want a cordial relationship, there’s no doubt about that. They believe, and rightly so, that the competition that characterized relations under the Conservative governments was foolish and counterproductive.”
But Starmer has no intention of repeating the parallel relationship with Europe that his predecessor Tony Blair established in the 1990s.
“The change in tone is very important, very significant and very noticeable. I think there will be a lot less in terms of content,” he said.
Rauhala reported from Brussels and Adam from London.
