Joint statement from Ursula von der Leyen and Starmer

At the European Political Community summit in Armenia today we met to discuss our joint commitment to improving the relationship between the UK and EU to deliver for consumers, businesses and collective European security.

We also reflected on the UK’s plan to participate in the EU’s €90 billion / £78 billion loan for Ukraine, and agreed it would be a major step forward in the UK- EU defence industrial relationship.

We underlined our unwavering support for the Ukrainian people and applauded their resilience and courage in recent weeks and months.

We also agreed to commence negotiations on UK participation in the European Innovation Council Fund, including the Scaleup Europe Fund, which will provide support for promising high-growth tech businesses to scale up and support UK and EU ambitions to keep the most promising innovators in Europe.

We looked ahead to the UK-EU summit and agreed on the importance of being ambitious in what we could achieve together for the benefit of both sides.