Ursula von der Leyen will meet with Keir Starmer in London next week as the UK and EU prepare to discuss closer energy ties as part of a wider Brexit “reset.”
According to von der Leyen’s official schedule, the two leaders will meet on Thursday, while the European Commission president will also attend a London summit on the future of energy security, jointly organised by the UK government and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Energy has been a key target for deepening co-operation between the UK and the EU post-Brexit. The two sides are expected to discuss the topic alongside defence, security and fisheries at a separate summit in May.
British ministers see next week’s two-day summit as an opportunity to demonstrate the Labour government’s commitment to a “net zero” climate goal and its belief that phasing out fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar can pave the way for energy security.
Expected guests at the summit
Von der Leyen is the highest-ranking guest whose participation has already been confirmed.
The event, which will be hosted by UK energy minister Ed Miliband and IEA executive director Fatih Birol, will be attended by energy ministers from IEA member countries. They include the US, which under Donald Trump has chosen a very different path in energy policy, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and seeking to use its vast fossil fuel reserves to extract trade concessions from the European Union.
The US withdrawal from global efforts to combat climate change has also given greater emphasis to UK-EU co-operation on the energy transition.
Von der Leyen’s visit will also come at a time when the UK and EU are exploring closer ties on electricity trade, as the current post-Brexit arrangements expire in June 2026.
Energy companies on both sides of the Channel say the current system is inefficient and want Brussels and London to agree to closer integration resembling a single market. Clean energy companies are also seeking to harmonise carbon trading schemes and border carbon taxes in the UK and EU.
China is expected to ignore a major energy security summit in the UK next week amid growing discontent over the country’s involvement in UK infrastructure projects.
The absence of China – the world’s largest producer of clean energy technology and biggest emitter of greenhouse gases – is a blow to the UK, although the US may have privately welcomed it. The landmark conference, to which 60 countries were invited, would have been the first time the US and China had jointly participated in a major international forum since Donald Trump launched a trade war over tariffs last month.
