Sir Keir Starmer Monday evening urged EU leaders to re-engage with Great Britain five years after Brexit, while he refused to “choose” between narrower relations with Brussels or Washington.
Starmer, the first British Prime Minister to contact the European Council of EU leaders Brexitsaid he wanted a new defense and security pact to be at the heart of a “reset” relationship.
When asked if he could have close economic ties with Europe and the United States of Donald Trump, Starmer said: “These two relationships are very important to us. . . We do not choose between them.
This assertion is likely to be tested in the coming months if Trump undergoes his threat of prices against the UeWhile Starmer tries to avoid such a fate by looking for improved British commercial terms with the United States.
The Dinner of the European Council on Monday evening at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels was a symbolic rapprochement between the United Kingdom and the EU, just over five years after Brexit entered into force on January 31, 2020.
It was in the same palace that Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath signed the Treaty taking Britain into the European Economic Community – a forerunner in the EU – in 1972.
Starmer hopes that by offering to work in close collaboration on military problems and intelligence with the EU – an area where the United Kingdom has traditional forces – it can start to unlock wider economic advantages.
The proposed security and defense pact – which will also cover areas such as the fight against illegal migration – should be wrapped in broader negotiations in the United Kingdom in the coming months.
Negotiations with Brussels are probably difficult to Starmer, the EU demanding continuous access to British fishing waters and a mobility program for young people who would allow EU nationals under 30 years to travel and work in Grande- Brittany.
A full UE-UK summit should take place in April or can try to galvanize these talks, with an increasing meaning in European capitals that the continent needs to cure old injuries, especially since Trump faces allies American transatlantics.
Starmer is ready to take certain political risks, in particular by seeking to abolish obstacles to food trade – even if this forces the United Kingdom to obey the EU rules and the competence of the European Court of Justice.
He also seeks to connect the carbon emission market in the United Kingdom with the EU’s own system and to participate potentially in an EU-Mediterranean commercial area, a decision that would not stop well in participation to the customs union of the block.
The question of Brexit remains toxic in the United Kingdom, even if a recent Yougov survey revealed that 55% of people now say that it was bad to leave the EU, with only 11% considering Brexit as a success that failure.
Conservative criticisms have nicknamed the team of civil servants of 50 people accused of negotiating an improved Brexit agreement – led by former Treasury official Michael Ellam – “Squad abandon”.
Starmer, speaking at the NATO headquarters in Brussels before the EU meeting, said he wanted the countries of Great Britain and the EU to be “ambitious” and work in close collaboration on Defense cooperation, including the purchase of military equipment.
“Our defense expenses now represent 2.3% of GDP and we work hard to define the path to 2.5%,” he said. It is not known when the United Kingdom will reach this target.
“We cannot be commentators with regard to questions of peace on our continent. We have to direct and that is what I am determined to do. »»
While France and other coastal states want to solve fishing problems as a prelude to a broader agreement in the United Kingdom, other countries will bring their own concerns to the table.
“Of course, there is still a key article to be completed in the Post-Brexit regulations of the United Kingdom, and it is Gibraltar,” said a manager of the Spanish Foreign Affairs. “Complete standardization will not be possible until this agreement has been concluded.”
