New British foreign secretary arrives for first EU meeting

Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, right, speaks with Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, center, and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Margallo before the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building, in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, July 18, 2016. Johnson, who recently likened the European Union to Adolf Hitler's vision for Europe, is in Brussels to meet with his new EU colleagues, and says he hopes to cooperate closely. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

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Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson smiles before a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building, in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, July 18, 2016. Johnson, who recently likened the European Union to Adolf Hitler's vision for Europe, is in Brussels to meet with his new EU colleagues, and says he hopes to cooperate closely. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, right, attends the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building, in Brussels, Belgium, Monday, July 18, 2016. Johnson, who recently likened the European Union to Adolf Hitler's vision for Europe, is in Brussels to meet with his new EU colleagues, and says he hopes to cooperate closely. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) (The Associated Press)

BRUSSELS – New British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who recently likened the European Union to Adolf Hitler's vision for Europe, is in Brussels to meet with his new EU colleagues, and says he hopes to cooperate closely.

Johnson led a winning campaign to persuade voters to leave the European Union, but said Monday it "in no sense means we are leaving Europe."

Johnson says: "We are not going to be in any way abandoning our leading role in European cooperation and participation of all kinds."

He says the attack in Nice, France showed the need for European countries to coordinate their response to terrorism. Johnson said he would support an EU call for "restraint and moderation" in Turkey following the failed military putsch there.