British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson pledged Thursday that the UK would remain a “dedicated European power” even after it left the EU, at an international security policy meeting in Germany.

Johnson told reporters at a gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the eastern city of Potsdam that Brexit would not cut Britain off from the continent.

Johnson said his attendance was “part of the broader message that we’re making to the world that, whatever our relationship is going to be with the treaties of the European Union, the United Kingdom is not leaving Europe”.

“Broadly conceived, we are a European country, we’re a dedicated European power,” said Johnson, who took office in the wake of the shock June referendum in favour of Britain leaving the EU.

“We are going to remained integrally involved in the diplomacy and politics of our continent.”

Calling the OSCE a “fantastic organization”, he said the one-day informal meeting of 40 foreign ministers from its member states would focus largely on tensions in eastern Ukraine.

“I think today everybody would agree that the wide, great continent of Europe is in a much, much better place, is in a much better state than it was 30 years ago but clearly there are problems,” he said.

“We’ll be talking about… what we can do to make sure that the OSCE monitors are able to have the access that they need and that the territorial integrity of (Ukraine) is fully and properly respected.”

OSCE monitors in eastern Ukraine have recorded regular violations of a ceasefire and a political reconciliation agreement signed in the Belarussian capital Minsk in February 2015.

The truce has done little to end the daily loss of life of civilians and fighters on both sides.

Source: AFP