UK's Starmer and Macron hail bilateral ‘reset’, reaffirm support for Ukraine

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised Thursday to bring a "new impetus" to ties with France and to work with Paris to oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine and end migrant-trafficking across the Channel.  

Starmer met French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday for one-to-one talks on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Blenheim Palace, near Oxford.

The two men pledged to "strengthen their cooperation on irregular migration" and "reinvigorate" their defence partnership.

In a piece published in French newspaper Le Monde before the meeting, the new British premier acknowledged Britain is no longer one of France's EU partners, since the previous government left the union.

But, Starmer wrote, 120 years after the Entente Cordiale agreements resolving colonial disputes between Paris and London, "we are still bound by many things", citing the G7 group, UN Security Council and NATO.

And he recalled the key role Britain and France have played as European military and economic powers in resisting Russia.

"I never thought, in my lifetime, that I would hear the rumble of war echoing across Europe. I never thought a leader would choose such an absurd and destructive path," Starmer wrote.

"And yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin made this choice. Our determination to face it must never waver."

'Great opportunity for a reset'

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday reciprocated Starmer's reach-out, calling the British prime minister's July 4 election "a great opportunity for a reset".

In his speech to welcome dozens of leaders to a summit designed to reaffirm backing for Ukraine, Starmer said the "first task" at the gathering was 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”, he said, adding that the threat from Russia “reaches right across Europe”. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a key guest at the meeting, said it was "very important to be here, for Ukraine, especially this tough period, for us during the war".

"For us it's very important to maintain unity in Europe because always this unity leads to strong decisions."

Cooperation on cross-Channel migration

Freshly elected at the head of a Labour Party government with a large House of Commons majority, Starmer also addressed the issue of cross-Channel migration, which has hurt ties in the recent past.

As prime minister, Starmer has already abandoned his predecessor's efforts to expel asylum-seekers arriving in Britain by boat to Rwanda, but is still seeking a way to slow arrivals from France.

"A veritable criminal empire is today at work throughout Europe. It profits from human misery and despair, sending countless innocent people to their deaths in the waters of the English Channel," he said.

"For me, this problem is no longer a challenge, it is a crisis. We will therefore work with France and with all our European partners to resolve it," he wrote, vowing that Britain would respect international law.

The former senior lawyer stressed that Britain would continue to respect the European Convention on Human Rights, which the previous government had considered quitting.  

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)