Sir Keir Starmer will host around 45 European leaders on Thursday for a summit he hopes will help reset Britain’s relationship with the continent.
The European Political Community (EPC) meeting will provide leaders with an opportunity to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and discuss key common concerns such as migration and energy.
The summit, which will be held at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, will also provide the prime minister with an opportunity to meet dozens of European allies just weeks after taking office.
Ahead of the meeting, Sir Keir pledged that the UK would play a “more active and unifying role on the world stage”.
He added: “The EPC will kick-start this government’s new approach to Europe, one that will benefit us not just today but generations to come, from dismantling the people-smuggling networks that traffic people across Europe, to resisting Putin’s barbaric actions in Ukraine and destabilising activities across Europe.”
European efforts will be stepped up to tackle people-smuggling networks and asylum decisions will be made faster, with 100 Home Office staff redeployed to help return rejected applicants to their home countries.
The EPC was established in 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to bring together European heads of government – from within and outside the EU – for informal discussions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend the meeting just a week after NATO leaders promised his country more air defenses but no invitation to join the military alliance.
Lord Ricketts, a former national security adviser, said the summit would help “put Britain back at the centre of European diplomacy”, although most of the discussions would focus on the war in Ukraine.
“The main topic of discussion will be the meeting of European leaders to show united support for Ukraine and Zelensky at a time of political uncertainty in the United States,” he said.
The summit will also give the prime minister the opportunity to outline to EU leaders his hopes of reaching agreement on a new security and defence pact with the bloc.
He will be joined by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and Europe Minister Stephen Doughty.
But the EU-focused talks will not involve European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as the hearing and vote confirming her expected reappointment will take place in Strasbourg on the same day.
Sir Keir is due to hold separate face-to-face meetings with Taoiseach Simon Harris, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and then-French President Emmanuel Macron at a private dinner in Blenheim.
The Labour Party’s manifesto promised to make the UK “once again a leading nation in Europe, with an enhanced and ambitious relationship with our European partners”.
European officials say they would be happy to discuss closer security cooperation, but that deeper negotiations are the way forward. They warn that EU members could demand concessions from the UK in exchange on issues such as fishing rights and youth mobility.
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the summit would allow Sir Keir to “fraternise and build human connections” with European leaders he has never met. It would also give the prime minister the opportunity to “set the direction and scope” of how he wants to rethink the UK-EU relationship.
“Keir Starmer’s personality alone will do more than people think,” Mr Grant said.
“He is diligent, sensible, serious, he reads his files, he believes in the rule of law and international institutions. Europeans will appreciate that.”
Also invited to the EPC – for the first time – are the secretaries general of NATO, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to discuss what Downing Street calls “the arc of conflict and instability within and around Europe’s borders”.
The official summit agenda includes separate discussions on combating illegal immigration and human trafficking, strengthening Europe’s energy security, defending democracy and combating disinformation.
The prime minister will take part in the working group on migration, co-chaired by the leader of the Italian far-right, Georgia Meloni.
In informal bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit, leaders are also expected to discuss how best to prepare Europe for a possible Donald Trump presidency, with the risk of a global trade war and a reduction in US military support for Ukraine.
The Prime Minister said that “Europe is at the forefront of some of the greatest challenges of our time.”
“Russia’s barbaric war continues to reverberate across our continent, as vile bands of smugglers subject innocent people to perilous journeys that too often end in tragedy,” he said.
“We cannot remain spectators to this chapter of history. We must do more and go further, not just for the brave Ukrainians on the front lines or for those trafficked from one country to another, but so that our future generations can look back with pride on what our continent has achieved together.”
He said he had promised to “change the way the UK engages with our European partners, working collaboratively to advance these generational challenges”, adding that the work starts at the top.
This is only the fourth meeting of the CPE, an initiative of President Macron. Previous biannual summits took place in the Czech Republic in 2022, then in Moldova and Spain last year.
The next country to host the EPC later this year is Hungary, whose leader, Viktor Orban, is close to Vladimir Putin and resists NATO support for Ukraine.
One may wonder what the diplomatic format can bring. It has no secretariat, it does not make decisions, it does not approve communiqués. Critics say that it is only a place for discussion. They also believe that the number of members is so large that it is difficult to reach a common agenda, let alone an agreement.
But its supporters say the informal, open-ended talks offer a rare opportunity for government leaders to discuss and resolve issues. They also say it is one of the few bodies that brings together EU and non-EU countries.
Blenheim Palace was chosen as the venue for the celebration partly because of its symbolism as the birthplace of Winston Churchill, who in 1946 called for “a kind of United States of Europe… a structure under which Europe can live in peace, security and freedom.”
However, leaders will pass through grand corridors with paintings reminding them that the baroque mansion is named after a major battle of European powers in 1704 that saw Britain and Austria defeat French and Bavarian forces.
