Meets up with a European leader in high regard (6)
I believe the answer is:
esteem
'high regard' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'meets up with a european leader' is the wordplay.
'up with' indicates anagramming the letters.
'leader' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'european' is 'e'.
'meets' anagrammed with 'e' gives 'ESTEEM'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for esteem that I've seen before include "Honour - regard" , "Think well of" , "Venerate" , "'Regard, respect (6)'" , "gain respect" .)