{"id":89680,"date":"2024-07-07T17:57:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T17:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/07\/new-uk-foreign-secretary-david-lammy-wants-to-reset-ties-with-eu\/"},"modified":"2024-07-07T17:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T17:57:28","slug":"new-uk-foreign-secretary-david-lammy-wants-to-reset-ties-with-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/07\/new-uk-foreign-secretary-david-lammy-wants-to-reset-ties-with-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"New UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy wants to reset ties with EU"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Paul Adams,\u00a0<\/span>BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"EPA-EFE\/REX\/ShutterstockEPA-EFE\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

David Lammy (R) held talks with Poland\u2019s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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David Lammy\u2019s whirlwind first trip as foreign secretary, organised at very short notice, is not about instant results or even brave new horizons.<\/b><\/p>\n

It is all about perception – the appearance of a new, vigorous administration, determined to hit the ground running, brimming with goodwill towards some of the UK\u2019s most important partners.<\/p>\n

After an evening spent with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock – the two found time to watch a few minutes of England\u2019s European Championship quarter-final – Mr Lammy\u2019s tour moved to the bucolic surroundings of the country estate of Poland\u2019s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky.<\/p>\n

After a couple of hours of talks, it was back on the plane for a short flight north to one of Nato\u2019s newest members, Sweden.<\/p>\n

Why Germany, Poland and Sweden?<\/p>\n

Partly because of Ukraine. Along with Britain, all three countries play important roles in sustaining Kyiv\u2019s war effort. With the new Defence Secretary John Healey on the ground in Odesa, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s government is keen to stress that the UK\u2019s commitment to Ukraine will remain rock solid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to double down on our commitment to Ukraine,\u201d Mr Lammy said, as dragonflies swooped over a tranquil lake and a pair of majestic eagles circled overhead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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France, in the midst of its own election – one which seems destined to have far-reaching consequences – was not on the itinerary. Not this weekend.<\/p>\n

No stop in Brussels, either. Sir Keir has said the UK will not return to the EU \u201cin my lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Poland and Sweden are both key European partners and fellow Nato members – good places for the foreign secretary to start exploring the outlines of closer future relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reset both our bilateral relationship and our relationship with the European Union,\u201d Mr Lammy said, adding a reference to Labour\u2019s still rather nebulous pledge to strike a new EU-UK security pact.<\/p>\n

He said that when European leaders gather at Blenheim Palace on 18 July for the next meeting of the European Political Community (established by Emmanuel Macron in the wake of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine), \u201cthe new spirit of co-operation will be on show\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lammy and his Polish counterpart embraced ahead of talks<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Lammy’s concerns: Russia, China, Gaza<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The trip comes just days before Sir Keir takes his own first steps on the international stage as prime minister, at the Nato summit in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

These are tricky times to be shoring up relationships, with France taking a lurch to the right and the US possibly on the verge of returning the unpredictable Donald Trump to office.<\/p>\n

Mr Lammy agreed this was a \u201ctough geopolitical moment\u201d, but said it was important not to confuse disagreements between mature democracies with the threats posed by authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned when I see Iranian drones turning up in Ukraine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned when I see shells from North Korea being used here on European soil. <\/p>\n

“And of course I’m concerned with the partnership that I see Russia brokering across those authoritarian states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other issues hang heavy over the new foreign secretary\u2019s first trip, in particular the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The new UK government is reaffirming its solid support for Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In Germany on Saturday, Mr Lammy spoke to the need to strike a \u201cmore balanced approach to Israel-Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is not clear exactly what he meant, but with ceasefire talks apparently poised to resume, finding a way to end the Gaza war and revive the Arab-Israeli peace process seems destined to consume a large amount of diplomatic time in the coming months.<\/p>\n

For his part, Mr Lammy\u2019s famously anglophone host said the relatively new Polish government shared something in common with the incoming Starmer administration.<\/p>\n

Both, Mr Sikorski said, were \u201cthe product of the public being tired with enthusiasts on the nationalist side of politics\u201d – a remark which perhaps only partially reflected the true nature of last week\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n

Mr Sikorski said he looked forward to \u201ca more pragmatic approach\u201d from Britain to its relationship with Europe and said the two ministers had discussed \u201csome creative ideas of how to further that\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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1 hour ago By\u00a0Paul Adams,\u00a0BBC News EPA-EFE\/REX\/Shutterstock David Lammy (R) held talks with Poland\u2019s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky David Lammy\u2019s whirlwind first trip as foreign secretary, organised at very short notice, is not about instant results or even brave new horizons. It is all about perception – the appearance of a new, vigorous administration, determined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[564,33,26189,27311,34,3813],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89682,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89680\/revisions\/89682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}