Keir Starmer to hold talks with Irish leader before European summit
Keir Starmer will move to reverse almost a decade of strained relations with Ireland over dinner with the taoiseach, Simon Harris, at Chequers on Wednesday on the eve of the biggest ever summit of European leaders in the UK.
Thames Valley police have restricted airspace for aircraft and drones around Blenheim Palace as preparations continue for 45 European leaders and their 400-strong delegations to descend on the Oxfordshire estate, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, on Thursday.
All 27 EU leaders will attend the European Political Community (EPC) summit along with leaders of non-EU members including the UK, Iceland, Norway, Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia, Andorra, Albania and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, may close the summit with a press conference, with Starmer demonstrating the “very strong message” EU leaders want to send to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Representatives of Nato, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe will also attend to discuss Europe’s position in the face of what Starmer described as Russia’s “barbaric” war and “vile” smuggling gangs trafficking “innocent people on perilous journeys that too often end in tragedy”.
Europe’s future defence strategy, particularly in the event of Donald Trump being elected as US president, is top of the agenda along with migration, the future of democracy and energy security.
As host, Starmer has an opportunity to relaunch the UK on the international stage after years of Conservative drama concerning domestic issues, but also a chance to repair relations caused by Brexit.
He will address more than 45 leaders in the historic palace at about 10am and is expected to stress how determined he is to strike a new defence and security agreement, a part of the Brexit jigsaw desired by the EU but omitted by Theresa May and Boris Johnson in their negotiations.
It is understood that Starmer will then attend a working group on migration to be chaired by the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama.
When the EPC last met, in Spain in October, these two along with Rishi Sunak, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte, the recently departed Dutch prime minister, drummed up a five-point plan to tackle the migration crisis in Italy.
Von der Leyen will not be attending this time because she faces a make-or-break vote in the European parliament at lunchtime on Thursday as she seeks a second term as European Commission president.
Emmanuel Macron and the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, will co-chair one of two working groups on defence and democracy. It is understood that Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, Josep Borrell, Europe’s chief diplomat, and the prime ministers of Iceland, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra and Finland will attend this group.
A second defence and democracy group will be chaired by the European Council chief, Charles Michel.
Before the Blenheim event, Starmer has carved out a special place for Ireland with a three-hour dinner meeting with Harris scheduled at Chequers aimed at repairing relations. A bilateral with Macron is in the diary on Thursday.
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Harris has already said he will support Starmer’s attempt to reset relations with the EU, which is in Ireland’s interest given the extra financial and regulatory burden that Brexit imposed on businesses trading with Great Britain, Ireland’s most valuable export market.
It will not be lost on Harris or Starmer that Chequers has been the seat of a series of dramas including Theresa May’s so-called Chequers Brexit plan, which Boris Johnson later attacked as a “constitutional outrage” that would “forfeit control” to Brussels.
The hard Brexit that Johnson sealed after he was swept to power in December 2019 led to relations with Ireland plunging to their worst in more than 50 years, compounded by later divisions over the Northern Ireland protocol and the suspension of Stormont.
Last December the Irish government began a legal challenge against the UK government over its decision to offer immunity for Troubles-era crimes in the Legacy Act, which will be discussed around the dinner table.
Last October Leo Varadkar voiced concerns that the UK was “disengaging from the world”, in response to that legislation and its threats to leave the European convention of human rights and reduce its budget for international aid.
After Labour’s election victory there were immediate signs of rapprochement. Harris has instructed his ministers to up their engagement with UK counterparts.