EU capitals have signalled their desire to reset relations with the UK, seven turbulent years on from the seismic Brexit vote. Representatives from all 27 member states said on Monday that they wanted to “develop further ties between the EU and the UK” after a deal sealed on Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland. A little more than two months after the Windsor framework was agreed between Rishi Sunak and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, they stressed the value of being “valuable partners with each other”. In an article written for the Guardian to mark Europe Day on Tuesday, ambassadors and high commissioners of all the EU member states say: “Rediscovery of common interests and concerns have thus led to the Windsor framework and to a much welcome and necessary regain in trust in EU–UK relations. “The task ahead is therefore to build on this re-engagement and to develop further the ties between the EU and the UK. “A strong UK and a strong EU are valuable partners for each other. To our mutual advantage we have the solid relations between our societies, our business and academic communities, and the need to ensure they continue engaging with and enriching each other in a mutually profitable and respectful manner.”
The article is not specific about the ties, but talks about future security, and foreign policy arrangements could be high on the list of new partnership talks after the EU leaders praised the leading role the UK has played in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. A deal on science and satellite communications is already on the cards, with talks reopening recently on the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe, the EU’s €95.5bn (£83.3bn) science and research programme. Fundamental issues such as a re-entry to the single market or the customs union will not be up for discussion, as this would reopen the Brexit deal. The article comes less than year after relations broke down between the UK and the EU when the then prime minister, Liz Truss, tabled the Northern Ireland protocol bill – which threatened to unilaterally tear up parts of the withdrawal agreement. An influential House of Lords committee recently urged the government to start working with EU capitals to remove Brexit barriers that block musicians, young people and professionals from working easily in Europe. The UK’s Europe minister, Leo Docherty, told the EU European affairs committee that it was frequently the first topic of discussion in his visits to EU capitals. EU school visits collapsed after Brexit owing to a new rule imposed by the UK that all visitors from the bloc had to have a passport rather than an ID card. This has proved a challenge for schools across the continent where ID cards, not passports, are the official identity documents of choice. EU leaders chose Europe Day because of a resonance they see between the joint effort to protect Europe from Russia and the day in 1950 when Robert Schuman, the foreign minister of France, proposed the creation of an economic union to bind countries in the postwar era. The ambassadors note that “the EU has become a bulwark of democracy and promotes security, economic development, human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world” – objectives that are shared by the UK. “Nowhere is this more evident than in our common response to the outbreak of war on the European continent,” they add. In relation to cross-border travel for schools, Charles Hay, chair of the Lords European affairs committee, said it behoved the liberal democracies of Europe to unite despite Brexit. “We think we can do better and we must do better, and we have the mechanics to do better,” he said. • This article was amended on 9 May 2023. A previous version referred in the headline to the article as having been signed by “EU leaders”.