British leader Keir Starmer will tell the Munich Security Conference that Europe is "a sleeping giant" and must rely less on the United States for its defence, his office said Friday.
In a speech on Saturday at the summit, the UK prime minister will argue that the continent must shift from overdependence on the United States towards a more European NATO.
"I'm talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well," Starmer is expected to say.
The gathering comes as European leaders remain concerned that a United States led by President Donald Trump can no longer be relied upon to be the guarantor of their security.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has frequently criticised European countries for not sharing enough of the burden on common defence, and raised questions about the future of NATO.
European members of the transatlantic military alliance are rushing to build up their defences in the face of an increasingly belligerent Moscow, whose war in Ukraine is set to enter its fifth year this month.
"As I see it -- Europe is a sleeping giant. Our economies dwarf Russia's, 10 times over," Starmer will tell allies, according to excerpts released ahead of his address.
"We have huge defence capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts," he was to say, citing fragmented planning and procurement problems.
Late last year, talks on Britain joining the bloc's new 150-billion-euro (£130 billion) rearmament fund broke down, reportedly because London baulked at the price for entry.
Downing Street said Starmer would use his speech to call for closer UK-EU defence cooperation.
"There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history -- and it is today's reality too," Starmer was to say.
The UK government announced on Friday that Britain will spend more than £400 million this financial year on hypersonic and long-range weapons, including through joint projects with France, Germany and Italy.
Starmer, whose centre-left Labour party is being squeezed on opposite ends of the political spectrum by the anti-immigrant Reform UK group and the more left-wing Greens, was to say leaders "must level with the public" about the defence costs they face.
He was due to hit out at "peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right", according to the excerpts.
"The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen", Starmer was expected to say.
Europe calls for US reset
European leaders called Friday for a reset in relations with the United States as they met at a top security conference where US President Donald Trump's potshots at traditional transatlantic ties loomed large.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged "a new transatlantic partnership" and French President Emmanuel Macron called for "a strong Europe" as more than 60 leaders gathered for the annual Munich Security Conference.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meanwhile tell the conference Saturday that Europe is "a sleeping giant" and must rely less on the United States for its defence, his office said in a preview of his remarks.
This year's conference comes at a time of strained ties between Europe and the United States, after Trump threatened to take over Greenland and criticised "decaying" and "weak" European nations.
Russia's war against Ukraine, set to enter its fifth year this month, is high on the agenda, alongside efforts by European NATO members to raise their defence budgets, in line with Trump's demands, out of concern that Moscow could seek to expand into their territory.
European leaders at the gathering defended their security commitments and the NATO alliance, which Trump's rhetoric has rattled.
"Being a part of NATO is not only Europe's competitive advantage. It's also the United States' competitive advantage. So let's repair and revive transatlantic trust together," Merz said.
"In the era of great-power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone."
- 'Greater European autonomy' -
The gathering comes a year after US Vice President JD Vance used the conference's stage to attack European policies on immigration and free speech, shocking allies on the continent.
Macron emphatically defended Europe in his speech, saying "everyone should take their cue from us, instead of criticising us".
Starmer's office said his speech would call for "a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well".
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived on Friday, is also due to speak at the gathering on Saturday, as is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, organisers said.
A German government source said Merz and Rubio had met at the conference and discussed "Ukraine, the status of negotiations with Russia and further support for the country, particularly in terms of military aid".
They also discussed Iran and NATO, and "Rubio praised Germany's steps to strengthen the alliance," the source added.
Rubio also met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the conference, at a time of heightened Washington-Beijing tensions.
They agreed to strengthen cooperation, and Wang told Rubio that "dialogue is better than confrontation, cooperation is better than conflict, and win-win outcomes are better than zero-sum games", according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Rubio held a 15-minute meeting with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland about the future sovereignty of the Arctic island. Denmark's Mette Frederiksen called the talks "constructive".
Ties plunged last month when Trump stepped up threats to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, forcing European nations to stand firm in protest.
- Ukraine discussions -
Merz, Macron and the leaders of the European Union, Canada and NATO met with Zelensky on Friday for talks on Ukraine.
A US official said Rubio did not attend those talks due to a packed schedule, but was "engaging on Russia-Ukraine in many of his meetings" in Munich.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said he discussed ending the Russian invasion with Wang, whose country is a close partner of Moscow.
Wang told Sybiga that Beijing was "willing to provide Ukraine with new humanitarian aid", according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.
Macron, meanwhile, said a new framework was needed to deal with "an aggressive Russia" once the fighting in Ukraine ends.
"If it makes sense to talk, we are willing to talk," said Merz. "But as you can see with the American side, Russia is not yet willing to talk seriously."
Zelensky, urged by Trump to "get moving" on a deal to end the war, visited a drone factory near Munich with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius before meeting with European leaders.
"It's good to have strong partnership with Americans... but I think that Europe... needs (an) independent defence industry, very strong," he said.
NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte said on the sidelines of the conference that Europe was "stepping up... taking more of a leadership role within NATO" and "taking more care of its own defence".
"A strong Europe in a strong NATO means that the transatlantic bond will be stronger than ever," Rutte said.