UK's Starmer to meet Macron and Merz in Berlin
A spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government announced on Monday that Merz will meet his French and British counterparts for a "dinner" in Berlin on Tuesday evening.
French President Emmanuel Macron was already slated to be in Berlin, attending a summit on European digital sovereignty co-hosted by France and Germany, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not expected to attend the summit, but will join Macron and Merz afterwards, according to the spokesperson – who provided no further details about the agenda for this meeting of the three Coalition of the Willing leaders.
Tuesday’s “European digital sovereignty” event was scheduled back in August as part of France and Germany’s joint economic agenda. It is described as a “high-level summit” of politicians, EU officials, business representatives, and other “key public and private actors in digitalization” from France and Germany.
According to AFP, major firms including France’s Mistral artificial intelligence (AI) company and German software giant SAP are expected to be present.
The reason for Starmer’s presence in Berlin after the summit appears less straightforward, as the British prime minister has plenty to occupy him in the way of domestic politics.
The UK government is set to announce sweeping changes to Britain’s asylum system on Monday, which is likely to be controversial. In Westminster, rumors of potential challenges to Starmer’s leadership are becoming increasingly common.
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