Starmer plans historic French visit as Western leaders worry about Ukraine future
British PM heads to Paris for a ground-breaking Armistice Day visit - first since Churchillʼs time. The meeting with Macron comes as Europe re-thinks its support for Ukraine amid US political shifts
Next week Keir Starmer will make a ground-breaking trip to Paris marking the first time since Churchill that a British leader joins French Armistice Day events (which happened back in 44)
The visit comes at a time when Europe faces new geo-political shifts: Donald Trumpʼs upcoming return to White House in Jan makes many Euro-leaders nervous about US support for Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron and Starmer plan to discuss this issue; its important for both countries to keep helping Kyiv defend itself
The numbers show how much help matters: EU countries gave about 118B euros since the war started while US provided 85B. Still Europe cant match some key US military aid like F-16s and ATACMS (which are super-important for Ukraineʼs defense)
During his stay Starmer will also meet with Michel Barnier‚ Frances new-ish PM who got the job this fall. They might talk about the UK-EU security deal thats coming next year: both sides want more team-work on stuff like defense and power supplies
The timing of this trip is extra-special because Britain and France want to show theyʼre united. Both countries think its crucial to keep backing Ukraine - they see it as protecting all of Europe from Russiaʼs actions
