Embrace European partner (7)
I believe the answer is:
espouse
'embrace' is the definition.
(I know that embrace can be written as espouse)
'european partner' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'partner' becomes 'spouse' (synonyms).
'e'+'spouse'='ESPOUSE'
(Other definitions for espouse that I've seen before include "Adopt or support, say a cause" , "Champion or support, as with a cause" , "Give support to - see soup (anag)" , "help!" , "See opus (anag)" .)