The UK must stop being “naive” about negotiations to reset relations with the EU and show more flexibility in its approach to Brussels, a trade policy thinktank has said. As EU leaders question how much has changed in the UK despite the new government, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has outlined a plan to bring the two sides closer after a series of reports that the EU doubted Keir Starmer’s commitment to a reset. “Emotions around the UK’s departure from the EU are far from healed, and this scarring is damaging the prospects of both,” the plan’s author, David Henig, a former civil servant and trade policy expert, said.
“The UK-EU relationship will always be time-consuming for governments, but requires change for these efforts to bring positive results.” The Labour government has repeatedly stated its desire to strengthen ties with Europe, but diplomats have been saying for some weeks that they need to see this translated into specifics before they embark on a reset. They have also said there is no “à la carte” option. Henig said Labour’s “negativity on youth mobility” had a disproportionate impact because it suggested to “many across the EU that not enough has yet changed in the UK” to embark on a reset. The leaders of EU countries are perplexed by what they see as the UK’s casual dismissal of rejoining the Erasmus student exchange scheme and its lack of enthusiasm for a youth mobility scheme, something the EU sees as an important way of promoting understanding of Europe in the younger generation. “The UK must stop being so naive about negotiations, and the EU [must be] more flexible in order for the reset of their relationship, so crucial to European security and competitiveness, to be successful,” said Henig. “Equally, there are no easy ‘silver bullet’ solutions such as the UK rejoining the single market, and therefore stakeholders must get used to a situation of uncertainty and gradual improvement.” ECIPE said it was important for both sides to get stuck in to a joint programme to scope out a “common work programme” with plan to bring the UK and EU closer together an obvious agenda item for the first formal meeting between Starmer and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, now delayed possibly until November or even December . ECIPE’s report, Negotiating Uncertainty in UK-EU Relations: Past, Present and Future, offers 10 key points to negotiators including an agreement to have annual EU-UK summits involving commissioners and ministers. Henig also suggested the EU needed to be more innovative in the way it approached its relationship with the UK, a third country but one with far more common historical and trade bonds than countries further afield such as Japan. He suggested the UK must promote better public understanding about the relationship if it is to be improved, with realistic options for both sides and care taken about oversimplifying messaging. He suggested the dynamics of the complex relationship between the EU and the UK rarely gets attention, but now is the time to use officials and experts to calm the waters. “From an EU point of view, the UK left the club and bad-mouthed it extensively on the way out, while also wanting untouched trading privileges. This has inevitably left resentment and a view among many that rebuilding simply should not be any sort of a priority,” he said.