EU leaders sign joint statement in support of Ukraine - Europe live

Ireland’s Martin also congratulated Andy Burnham on his byelection win in the UK last night, saying it showed “what is possible, despite all of the fragmentation and challenges in modern politics.” The byelection was closely watched by European leaders as they consider if there could be a leadership challenge – or change – this summer in the UK. Andy Burnham wins huge majority in Makerfield byelection, paving way for Starmer leadership challenge Read more Speaking before the second day of the EU summit in Brussels, Martin said: “Well, just I congratulate him on his success. I know Andy, I’ve met him on a number of occasions. He has taken a particular interest in Ireland, and he has come to see us on a number of occasions, particularly on economy, and in respect of his role as a mayor in Manchester … It was a solid victory in the by-election, which shows what’s possible, despite all of the fragmentation and challenges in modern politics. When you campaign well and effectively, things can happen. I wish him well in his parliamentary career, and beyond that, I have no further comment to make.” Martin also said he was looking forward to the UK-EU summit scheduled for July. “We believe a lot can happen there, in terms of SPS, in terms of the ETS agreement, perhaps progress made on electricity market agreement, but we’ll see. And then on the youth exchange and youth experience programmes, we believe it would be very good both ways for young British people to have greater access to European Union in terms of travel and study and all of and so forth, and vice versa in terms of European students. That would be something that I think young people across the board would welcome.”