Starmer also said he intended to position the U.K. at the center of European efforts to confront Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and address the criminal people-smuggling gangs that have driven migration to crisis levels in Britain and other countries.

“We cannot be spectators in this chapter of history. I said I would change the way the U.K. engages with our European partners, working collaboratively to drive forward progress on these generational challenges, and that work starts at the European Political Community meeting on Thursday,” Starmer said.

The U.K. Foreign Office noted that for the first time, representatives of NATO, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Council of Europe will be at the EPC summit, “Demonstrating the importance of unity in response to the arc of conflict and instability inside and near Europe’s borders that affects the U.K. and the continent’s interests equally.”

So far, however, there has been a lukewarm response to the meeting from some European officials, with one diplomat concerned that the meeting may lack substance, given that the newly elected government will have been in place for just two weeks.

The EPC was conceived by French President Emmanuel Macron, who aimed to create a broader circle of European allies following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But critics have accused Macron of using it to delay efforts to expand formal EU membership to countries such as Ukraine and Moldova.