Summary of the day
Leaders from over 40 countries met in Granada, Spain for the third summit of the European Political Community.
While the session was focused on Europe, America’s internal politics – and in particular the future of aid to Ukraine – were on many people’s minds.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he has American support. But he also said it’s a “difficult” election period for the US and there are some “strange” voices.
European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “very confident of support for Ukraine from the United States – what the United States is working on is the timing”.
Irish leader, Leo Vardkar, said he was “concerned” to see the UK “disengaging from the world”, and accused it of turning inwards by leaving the EU, slashing international aid and now considering abandoning a human rights treaty.
Varadkar and the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, held a bilateral meeting.
Updated
It is concerning to watch UK disengage from the world, says Irish PM
Ireland’s prime minister has said he is “concerned” to see the UK “disengaging from the world”, and accused it of turning inwards by leaving the EU, slashing international aid and now considering abandoning a human rights treaty.
Leo Varadkar, speaking before a bilateral meeting with Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, in the Spanish city of Granada, he said he could barely recognise the country.
Asked it he was concerned over threats made by the UK to walk away from the European convention on human rights, he replied: “I am to be honest.” The home secretary, Suella Braverman, has questioned whether the convention is “fit for purpose”.
“The Britain and United Kingdom that I love and admire, it is the country of the Magna Carta, the country that founded parliamentary democracy and the country that helped to write the European convention on human rights,” Varadkar said.
“It does bother me to see the United Kingdom disengaging from the world – whether it’s reducing its budget for international aid, whether it’s leaving the European Union and now even talking about withdrawing from the European convention on human rights. That’s not the Britain I know,” he said.
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