As the British Labor government’s honeymoon period fades, it must get to work on its EU realignment.
There are high hopes in Brussels and London that the newly minted British Government of Keir Starmer get to work to recalibrate the UK’s relationship with the European Union.
Starmer has wasted no time in laying the foundations for his promised “reset”: the NATO and European Political Community (EPC) summits in July gave the new British prime minister the opportunity to meet his EU counterparts, and Since then, its ministers have toured the continent to resume bilateral relations.
His message – that The United Kingdom wants to repair its tense relations with the EU– was perfectly conveyed in a selfie in July with his German and Spanish counterparts, Olaf Scholz and Pedro Sánchez, during England’s match against Spain in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin.
But although the environment has changed, the essence of Starmer’s plans for modify the frameworks that define cooperation between both parties remains uncertain.
During his election campaign, promised to renegotiate what he described as Boris Johnson’s “botched” Brexit deal, but carefully ruled out re-joining the single market or the EU customs union, or restore free movement of people across the EU-UK border.
Measures to rationalize the trade relationship and an ambitious security pactand there is political will on both sides of the English Channel to get to work.
“EU representatives were in contact very quickly with the new British prime minister,” said one EU diplomat, “and it is not just a security and defense issue, we have many issues on the table to talk about.”
Eliminate trade frictions
One of the first priorities of the Starmer Government will be ease some of the post-Brexit trade frictions that have weighed down British companies. He has committed to negotiating a new sanitary and phytosanitary agreementalso known as the veterinary agreement, which would dramatically reduce controls and barriers to agricultural trade.
Since the United Kingdom formally left the bloc in December 2020the EU has applied full border checks on British agri-food imports, requiring extensive checks and a veterinarian’s signature to ensure compliance with EU rules. The UK responded with similar controls on EU imports in January of this year.
The previous British Government estimated that import controls on animals and plants cost businesses £330 million a year, and the industry put it at around £3 billion.
Therefore, a new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement could bring economic benefits to the agri-food sector of both parties, appeasing the discontent still latent among European farmersbut also reducing the cost of consumers’ shopping basket.
EU executive likely to demand UK come into full alignmentnow and in the future, with the relevant single market agri-food regulations, known as “dynamic alignment”. The UK’s willingness to do so, which would mean accepting a role for the European Court of Justice (ECJ), could be a breakthrough that would trigger a closer cooperation in a whole host of other areas.
“Labour has not ruled out a role for the ECJ, and has spoken very positively – not only in the veterinary field, but also, for example, in the chemical field – of the value for the national industry of aligning with the rules of the EU,” Luigi Scazzieri, senior researcher at the Center for European Reform, told ‘Euronews’.
“This is something the UK is already doing spontaneously, so why not formalize it so that your companies have it easier when exporting to the EU market?”, he added.
Other smaller demands Labor put forward in its manifesto include a deal to ease administrative demands on touring artists in the EU and UK, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
ADVERTISINGAlthough marginal in terms of their economic importancecould mean early victories for Labor in its attempt to iron out rough edges in the broad economic relationship between both parties.
Counterpart requirements
But the executive of the EU in Brussels will be reluctant to allow for the United Kingdom to improve its relationship until the pending problems in the new relationship are resolved.
The UK has yet to fully comply with some border controls on goods imported from the EU required by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (CCA) 2020, or the product labeling requirements of the Windsor Framework. Until it does, a new agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures is likely not on the table.
It is also likely that Brussels will want to resolve the current problems with the rights of EU citizens living in the UKthousands of whom have faced difficulties in claiming settled status that promised their rights would not change after Brexit. The post-Brexit agreements to Gibraltar They also remain unresolved.
ADVERTISING“The previous Government preferred to avoid and avoid some of these issues because they are difficult, and accepted the price, which was a static relationship,” Joel Reland, researcher at UK in a changing Europe, told ‘Euronews’. “If Labor really wants to take the relationship further, it needs to address those issues.”
“As much as it is good to show that you are much friendlier to the EU, the Commission will be reluctant to explore many forms of new cooperation until existing obligations are addressed“Reland explained.
He adds that another of the priority requests on Brussels’ list is a youth mobility agreementl making it easier for young British and European people to cross the border between the UK and the EU to study, work and live.
The European Commission proposed opening negotiations on a youth mobility deal in April this year, but Labor repeatedly dismissed the prospect in its election campaign for fear that it would be misinterpreted as a return to free movementsomething that is still considered unpleasant for large sectors of the British electorate.
ADVERTISINGReland believes Labor now faces a dilemma when deciding whether to maintain their opposition to the planas they did during the campaign, or try to reach a watered-down deal that is acceptable to both the Commission and skeptical sections of their domestic public.
A privileged security partner
EU diplomats say that in a more dangerous and geopolitically volatile world, and with the prospect of the return of Donald Trump to the White House yet buddinga Government in London more open to a close relationship on security and defense is welcome.
“Obviously the UK has to be a privileged foreign and defense policy partnership for us,” said one EU diplomat.
While the previous Conservative Government led by Rishi Sunak was also considered a constructive partner in securityEU officials see an opportunity to formalize the partnership under Starmer’s leadership with an EU-UK security pact.
ADVERTISING“Although the previous (British) Government was not unconstructive, this new government does not come with the baggage of the Conservative Party, and in general has a much more pro-European narrative“, said Luigi Scazzieri, of the ERC.
“This (security) pact is not completely finalized, but from what the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has said, the idea would be to go quite far and have a set of agreements allowing the UK and EU to cooperate more closelyfrom foreign policy itself to areas such as migration, energy security, health security and critical raw materials,” he added.
Greater participation in the military and civilian missions of the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), and closer cooperation on security issues such as illegal immigrationl, the border control and terrorismthey can be quick victories.
But Scazzieri believes Brussels will likely limit security ambitions that have “an economic angle” for fear that it could “be a way to circumvent the 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement.”
ADVERTISINGThis could mean that the UK will not seek to join any new plans headed by the new Defense Commissioner, who is expected to be appointed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the coming weeks and who will have the task of rationalize the bloc’s national defense industries to make them more efficient and interoperable.
“This would require the United Kingdom to contribute financially to EU programs, something that I suspect London has very much blocked,” declared Scazzieri.
