Sir Keir Starmer has been invited to attend a casual summit of EU leaders in February – the primary time since Brexit {that a} British prime minister meets completely with the EU’s 27 heads of states and authorities.
The Labour authorities got here to energy promising to reset British relations with the European Union and to enhance on the Brexit deal agreed in 2020. However after months of the niceties, the gritty arduous work of negotiation nonetheless lies forward.
Sir Keir Starmer has been invited to attend a casual “retreat” with EU leaders in February. It will likely be the primary time since Brexit {that a} British prime minister will get to sit down across the desk completely with the EU’s 27 heads of states and authorities.
It displays “a brand new constructive vitality within the European Union and United Kingdom relations which we must always discover additional”, stated the President of the European Council, António Costa.
The agenda for that assembly, which is predicted to happen in Belgium, however away from the bubble of EU establishments, is because of give attention to safety and defence, an space which spans the Center East, the warfare in Ukraine and migration.
Safety and defence have been largely disregarded of the unique Brexit deal. As a substitute, for the previous 4 years, diplomats have needed to make use of different codecs just like the G7 to coordinate on, for instance, sanctions towards Russia.
It’s one space the place each side agree there’s potential for a devoted pact, being dubbed the UK-EU Safety Partnership.
The assembly in Belgium will happen simply days after Donald Trump is sworn in as US president.
European governments are bracing themselves for varied situations of what Trump’s second time period might convey. Most don’t count on him to observe via with a risk to tug out of Nato, however his unpredictability is already driving the EU and the UK nearer collectively.
Nonetheless, on different subjects, British-EU negotiation might show tougher.
Labour has pledged to make a veterinary settlement with the EU “to stop pointless border checks and assist sort out the price of meals”. This can require preserving in keeping with EU regulation.
Based on an EU doc leaked to The Instances, the European Fee will insist that such an settlement necessitates “full alignment”, together with accepting the jurisdiction of the European Court docket of Justice.
Labour appears to be calculating that nobody will quibble {that a} technical alignment could possibly be construed as a betrayal of the EU referendum. However toying with Brexit offers is a harmful sport in British politics.
Then there are different subjects on the Christmas want listing for one facet and never the opposite.
For instance, the EU would really like a ‘youth mobility’ settlement. Preliminary proposals from the European Fee earlier this 12 months went down badly in London. It’s now being branded as “youth expertise”, however the thought stays a lot the identical, a scheme by which, as earlier than Brexit, EU nationals might go and dwell and examine within the UK for plenty of years.
The British authorities has little interest in such a scheme, which it sees as costly and prone to play havoc with the UK’s migration statistics.
Likewise, the UK’s want at no cost rein for British artists to carry out and exhibit on the continent is just not thought-about viable for the EU as a result of the UK doesn’t wish to signal as much as EU freedom of motion guidelines.
In the meantime, seeing a potential opening, British and EU companies are lining as much as get their very own pursuits included within the reset.
The chemical substances and pharma industries, for instance, need the UK and EU to mutually recognise one another’s regulators in order that they don’t seem to be subjected to 2 regimes of pink tape each time they ship elements, elements or completed items throughout the border.
Evangelical about any potential financial advantages of decreasing commerce boundaries, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, on a go to to Brussels earlier this month, stated the reset was “about enhancing each our progress prospects”.
An EU diplomat stated that there’s openness on their facet “to contemplate methods for strengthening the [European] Union’s cooperation with the UK”. The EU has been finishing up a “mapping train of our widespread EU pursuits” in preparation.
Nonetheless, there are those that are sceptical that giving the UK an excessive amount of might drawback European companies. And plenty of are nonetheless scarred by the drama of the Brexit years.
One subject which must be confronted earlier than too lengthy is fisheries. It was such a scorching subject in the course of the Brexit negotiations that solely a stop-gap settlement could possibly be made. It expires in 2026.
Some member states need any reset negotiations to incorporate guarantees for EU fishermen. The UK desires to maintain it separate. To take action would as soon as have been thought-about “cherry choosing”, however this time there are many voices in Europe who are not looking for fishing quotas to spoil the chance to convey Britain again nearer to the EU.
Sir Keir Starmer and the European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen are anticipated to convene the primary UK-EU one-on-one leaders’ summit within the spring. That is being seen because the pivotal second for the UK to set out its stall and doubtlessly for negotiations to start.
