UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken of heightened “tension” between US President Donald Trump and Europe at a gathering of leaders from across the continent, which he used to announce the United Kingdom’s bid to join the European Union’s recovery loan for Ukraine.
Trump has lashed out at some NATO nations for what he sees as their lack of support for Washington in Iran, most recently announcing plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.
The prime minister warned of the strained relations at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, which is being dominated by the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, amid concerns over the US president’s waning interest in the first and attacks on traditional allies over their stance on the second.
Speaking in the plenary session, Starmer said: “We cannot deny that some of the alliances that we have come to rely on are not in the place we would want them to be.”
“There is more tension in the alliances than there should be and it’s very important that we therefore face up to this as a group of countries together.”
The prime minister also said the damage done to economies around the world by the Middle East crisis would “play out with our electorates in all of our countries.”
His trip to Yerevan comes as Labour is expected to face a drubbing in this week’s local elections.
Starmer announced that Britain would start talks to access the European Union’s €90 billion ($105 billion) loan for Kiev, which amounts to around £78 billion.
In a readout of a meeting on Ukraine he co-chaired with France in the margins of the summit, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said: “The leaders discussed the European Union’s £78 billion loan to Ukraine, and the prime minister underlined the opportunity the UK’s involvement would bring for both Ukraine and European security.”
Other attendees included leaders from Ukraine, France, Italy, Poland, Norway, Finland, NATO, the European Commission and the European Council – as well as Canada, the first non-European nation to participate in the European Political Community (EPC).
The loan initiative, recently approved by the EU after Viktor Orbán’s defeat in Hungarian elections ended a long-running impasse, could create opportunities for British defence firms to compete for contracts in return for a financial contribution from the UK which could reportedly reach up to £400 million ($542 million).
Officials said the payments will be determined by the value of contracts and will come from the UK’s ringfenced £3 billion for Ukraine.
Speaking to media as he arrived at the Yerevan gathering, Starmer said the UK’s involvement in the initiative would be “very good” for Ukraine’s military capability, for British jobs and for UK-EU relations.
The UK and EU, which will hold another joint summit this summer, will negotiate the parameters of access to the loan in the coming weeks, the prime minister’s office said.
Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after arriving in Armenia on Sunday, Starmer on Monday held private talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
In a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the trio “agreed on the need to reopen of the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation and the free flow of global trade,” according to the prime minister’s office.
“They discussed European support already positioned in the region to reinforce security, and welcomed the close coordination between European allies.”
Several European nations have expressed a willingness to support efforts to help ensure freedom of navigation through the strait once the war is over.
Trump announced on Sunday that the US would start guiding vessels stranded in the vital oil and gas shipping route by the war with Tehran.
Iran has since reportedly said a US destroyer attempting to pass the strait has been hit by missiles, a claim denied by the US military.
