Britain hosts show of European unity at Blenheim Palace gathering


Thomas Harding
  • English
  • Arabic

Britain has embarked on a new era of co-operation with Europe at a summit where there was broad unity on a drive to protect borders against the “criminal empire” of migration gangs.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer made the comments at the European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace, as he welcomed continental leaders to Britain.

After eight years of turmoil caused by the Brexit vote to leave the EU, Britain appears to have been welcomed back into the European fold with the election of a new Labour government.

There’s been a game-changer now. You have a British Government that wants to actively talk about a closer relationship with Europe
Simon Harris,
Irish PM

Whitehall sources have disclosed that Mr Starmer’s uncompromising defence of the European Convention on Human Rights – something that the Conservatives threatened to leave – has already made relations “much easier”.

A “tête-à-tête” dinner with President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening will also be the setting for a discussion on a new structure to tackle illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel.

Criminal empire

Addressing the opening meeting in which more than 40 countries were represented, Mr Starmer described Europe’s illegal immigration as a crisis.

“A criminal empire is at work in every country represented here today, profiting off human misery and desperation, prepared to send infants, babies, pregnant mothers, innocent people to their deaths,” he said.

The summit was an opportunity to “set a new path on illegal migration” and “to say together ‘no more’” to people smugglers.

But he also recognised that Europe needed to address the “root causes” that drove migrants from their homes, including extreme poverty, conflict and climate change.

In order to tackle the immigration problem at source, Mr Starmer announced £84 million ($108) million for skills and education projects across the Middle East and Africa.

“This is a vital part of gripping the migration crisis,” he told a press conference. “It shows how we are going to do business on world stage.”

The immigration problem demonstrated that the “world’s problems echo at home” and that Britain or Europe “could solve nothing by turning inward”.

The announcement came on the day of a migrant drowning and the rescue of 71 others in one failed crossing in which the asylum seekers were repatriated to France.

Soft Rwanda

The UK small boat issue has become intensely political with 45,000 crossing in 2022 followed by about 30,000 last year.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme, which cost the taxpayer £270 million, was meant to act as a deterrent but was not introduced before he lost the election. The policy has since been dropped by Labour.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. AFP
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. AFP

However, it is understood that Britain could be examining what observers call a “soft Rwanda” scheme, such as the one enacted between Italy and Albania.

Italy, which suffers some of the highest numbers of illegal migrants in Europe, has agreed with Albania on a scheme that will reportedly send 36,000 to a port north of the capital Tirana where migrant claims are processed. The majority so far have come from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

Indications that this could evolve for Britain came after Mr Starmer held a meeting with the two countries’ prime ministers, Giorgia Meloni and Edi Rama.

There were also reports, denied by Labour, for an agreement for Britain to send back several small boat migrants in exchange for accepting some asylum seekers from Europe.

Royal welcome

The Italy-Albania meeting was among many that Mr Starmer held with Europe’s leaders who descended on Blenheim, outside Oxford.

British soft power diplomacy was to the fore as King Charles III hosted an hour-long reception for the leaders in the Baroque-style building where Winston Churchill was born and where his dynasty has held sway since the continental wars when the victorious commander John Churchill was made first Duke of Marlborough.

It is understood that the king recognised that the summit was “really important for the UK”, a source said, and that the monarch “personally has done a great deal on our relationships” with Europe.

Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, left, and Emmanuel Macron, France's President, at the European Political Community. EPA
Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, left, and Emmanuel Macron, France's President, at the European Political Community. EPA

Labour ‘game-changer’

The bonhomie was evident among the premiers, with even Hungary’s Viktor Orban warmly welcomed despite EU criticism of his recent trip to meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The change in atmosphere was notably different from the inaugural EPC meeting in 2022 in the Czech Republic, a brainchild of President Macron in light of the Ukraine invasion when the former British leader Liz Truss was vague in her response on whether the Frenchman was “friend or foe”.

Ireland’s leader Simon Harris suggested that Mr Starmer’s election victory would be a “game-changer” for Britain’s relations with the EU in that he wanted a “closer relationship with Europe”.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, said Brussels would discuss a new security and defence pact. “We welcome the new tone of the British government and we look forward to engaging with it,” he said.

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, spoke of a “new chapter of co-operation” with Britain on migration and global threats.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. EPA
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. EPA

Freewheeling chat

The summit was touted as “leaders only” event with few officials involved in talks where there were no country flags, with most of the discussion in English and around hexagonal tables.

It saw three working groups on migration, security and preserving democracy, including further strong signals of support for Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also in attendance.

The EPC allowed Europe’s leaders to have “more freewheeling conversations”, a Whitehall source said, rather than the formality of other summits.

That talks led to such moments in the palace gardens in which the British, French, German and Ukrainian leaders discussed affairs unheard by officials.

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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo

Transmission: CVT

Power: 170bhp

Torque: 220Nm

Price: Dh98,900

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His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Group A

Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar

 

Group B

UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

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The candidates

Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive

Ali Azeem, business leader

Tony Booth, professor of education

Lord Browne, former BP chief executive

Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist

Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist

Dr Mark Mann, scientist

Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner

Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister

Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster

 

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs

Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre

Power: 325hp

Torque: 500Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh189,700

On sale: now

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright

The specs: 2019 Haval H6

Price, base: Dh69,900

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km

Updated: July 18, 2024, 8:40 PM`