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The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 May 2026.

The Prime Minister met the Prime Minister of Czechia Andrej Babiš today.

The leaders began by reflecting on the UK’s ambitions for a closer relationship with the European Union to deliver security and prosperity for both sides. 

In the current context, a stronger, more united Europe was key, the Prime Minister added. 

The leaders also discussed the need to continue close collaboration on illegal migration. 

Turning to wider geopolitical issues, the leaders reiterated the need to secure a just and lasting peace to end the war in Ukraine. The Prime Minister also thanked Prime Minister Babiš for Czechia’s ongoing supply of ammunition to Ukraine. 

On the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of ensuring the normalisation of shipping in the region to ensure the free flow of trade.

The leaders looked forward to speaking again soon.

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 May 2026.

Building on the European Political Community Summit (EPC) in Copenhagen last year, European leaders reaffirmed critical lines of effort on upstream migration in Armenia.

On the occasion of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan, the leaders of Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their commitment to working together to tackle illegal migration.

At the Copenhagen EPC summit, leaders identified several critical lines of effort in pursuit of a ‘whole of route’ approach to tackling illegal migration. They underlined the need to take action against smugglers, ensure domestic and international frameworks are robust, accelerate returns, forge new partnerships, manage upstream migration effectively, and tackle the instrumentalisation of migration, among other issues. Critically, they also agreed on the need to support one another in these efforts.

This year, in the face of significant displacement across Sudan, the Horn of Africa and wider Middle East, these priorities remain as vital as ever and, also on the basis of the lessons learned from the 2015 migration crisis and to avoid a similar situation in the future, leaders agreed on how best to prepare and coordinate efforts.

They agreed on the importance of:

● Surveillance and monitoring: ensuring up-to-date information and monitoring is shared to best support preparedness and a coordinated response.

● Humanitarian assistance: identifying opportunities for targeted interventions to help those in need, and deter flows from source.

● Working with international organisations: partnering with, and supporting the work of key agencies and bodies like UNHCR, the IOM and the Council of Europe.

● Security: maintaining a core focus on security, protection and the effective integrity of both land and maritime borders.

● Targeting organised immigration crime: deploying targeted interventions against people smugglers and human traffickers as well as their supply chains, including through the use of sanctions.

● Governance: ensuring frameworks – both domestic and international – are safeguarded from abuse, so they can meet the demands of the day and so assistance can be targeted to those in need.

● Returns: ensuring robust agreements are in place to both deter migrant movements from source and transit countries and alleviate domestic pressure, including through new approaches.

● A systems-wide response: using all of the above levers, policies and diplomatic tools, to coordinate international efforts and protect the integrity of our borders.

Significant progress has been made across last year’s statement, including new measures, partnerships and successes in the disruption of smuggling activity continent-wide.

Leaders agreed to continue the focus on the most pressing global migration issues, and on opportunities for future cooperation, including at the next EPC Summit in Ireland.

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 May 2026.

The Prime Minister met Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan this afternoon.

The Prime Minister began by thanking Prime Minister Pashinyan for hosting the European Political Community summit.

He commended the significant steps Armenia had taken to secure peace in the region and thanked Prime Minister Pashinyan for his leadership on the issue.

The Prime Minister underlined the UK’s support for Armenia’s resilience through counter-disinformation, cyber security and supporting an independent judiciary and media industry.

As part of discussions, the leaders agreed a new UK-Armenia Strategic Partnership to strengthen cooperation on defence and security, economic growth and democratic resilience.

The leaders looked forward to staying in touch.

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 May 2026.

Joint statement following a meeting between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and UK Prime Minister Keir 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.

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 May 2026.

The Prime Minister met the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, at the European Political Community Summit earlier today. 

The leaders reflected on their recent diplomatic discussions, including on the situation in Ukraine.  

On the situation in the Middle East and the need for an end to the war in Iran, the leaders agreed on the need to reopen of the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation and the free flow of global trade. 

They discussed European support already positioned in the region to reinforce security, and welcomed the close coordination between European allies.

They looked forward to speaking again soon.