UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday called for a stronger European role within NATO, warning that longstanding dependencies and assumptions about global security are no longer viable.
"There needs to be a stronger European element in NATO. I have no doubt about that. So across defense and security and trade and energy, all of which have been weaponized, we need a much stronger Europe coming together around these issues," he told the European Political Community summit in Armenia's capital Yerevan.
He added that Europe has been "behind the curve for too long" on defense and security, citing over-reliance on external partners and outdated assumptions about stability.
"It has to be Europe now that leads the way," he continued. "We now need to lead out of this and we need to do it at pace."
Starmer also highlighted the changing geopolitical backdrop, pointing to multiple ongoing conflicts and their far-reaching consequences.
"We are now facing a war on two fronts. We're going into the fifth year of the Ukraine war, and we've got the Iran conflict at the same time, and both of those are impacting all of us in a very material way," he said.
He warned that the effects are not only economic but also extend to security threats within European countries.
"The impact is not just economic, … there are proxy attacks ... on our streets ... by way of cyber-attacks. So, this is not something remote. It's very real."
He also noted strains within traditional alliances, saying: "We cannot deny that some of the alliances that we have come to rely on are not in the place we would want them to be."
Despite these challenges, he pointed to recent coordinated efforts as evidence that European countries can act effectively together.
Referring to joint initiatives on Ukraine and maritime security, he said such cooperation shows "we can be agile, we can be tactical, and we can bring together countries in those configurations, so long as there's a single purpose."
European leaders on Monday are gathering for the eighth meeting of the European Political Community summit to discuss closer cooperation on democracy, energy security, and economic ties.
This year's summit, with the theme Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe, will be co-chaired by European Council President Antonio Costa and Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia's prime minister.
The first EU-Armenia summit is set to take place on Tuesday, with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations. Last year, the Armenian government announced its intention to pursue EU membership, marking a shift away from Moscow's influence.
