Rishi Sunak has already begun to repair strained relations with the EU. co.uk/bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837.html?direct=true&id=bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837&template=articleRendererHTML” class=”tmg-particle Sticky-nav wrp-bc72b371-0 21 5-4d99- b27b -4223678de837″ title=”General Election” data-business-type=”editorial” loading=”eager” scroll=”no” Frameborder=”0″ allow=”web-share” style=”width: 100%; width: 100%; border: none; position: relative; display: block; padding: 0px;”>
Labour government will face difficult negotiations from 'hard-nosed' Senior diplomats have warned that Brussels is trying to forge closer ties with the EU after Brexit.
Britain's latest EU commissioner and two former British ambassadors spoke after Sir Keir Starmer pledged to deepen foreign policy cooperation. will remove trade barriers and improve relations with the EU if he wins the next election.
“The Commission is an extremely stubborn negotiator. And they are proud of it,” said Lord Darroch, who was Britain’s ambassador to the EU and the US during a 40-year diplomatic career.
“The EU has moved away from Brexit. There are many problems in Europe. And what happens next for the British is really not in the top ten,” he said.
“They expect Labor to be generally more pro-European, but they also expect Labor to be extremely cautious about Europe […] we shouldn't expect any free gifts.”
Sir Julian King, Britain's ambassador to Ireland and France before David Cameron appointed him as Britain's last EU commissioner before Brexit said: “Labour has to be prepared to have really nitty-gritty and difficult discussions because just being polite won't help,” he said.< /p >
Kim Darroch, former UK Ambassador to the EU, shared his thoughts on the Labor Party's prospects for improving the UK's relationship with the EU. Photo: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo/https://www .alamy.com
Rishi Sunak has already started to repair strained relations with the EU, he said.
“So you have to go further”. Sir Julian said: “But both sides must stop fighting the latest war.”
Sir Ivan Rogers, a former ambassador to the EU and a key civil servant in the early years of Brexit negotiations before he resigned in 2017, told the Telegraph:
“There are some signs of falling prices. But the fact that the global situation is much grimmer than in 2016 does not guarantee a change in mentality in Brussels and in key locations in key capitals,” he said.
The EU and Britain have agreed to renegotiate a Brexit trade deal in 2026, but there is no agreement yet on how ambitious it will be. Labor has said it wants to renegotiate the trade deal and is understood to have been disappointed when the European Commission quickly ruled it out.
Sources in Brussels suggest it will be a chance for some minor changes and little more – although Lord Darroch said that this could be a negotiating tactic. However, he added: “The EU is quite happy with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in its current form. It works very well for them.”
Sir Ivan Rogers, the former EU ambassador, believes Labor faces a difficult road ahead in negotiations with Brussels. Photo: Jack Taylor/Getty Images Europe
Sir Keir wants a veterinary deal that would cut checks at the Irish Sea border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and make Britain's trade with the EU smoother, but Brussels has shown no sign of backing down on its demand that Britain comply with EU plant and animal health rules. Moreover, it is likely that they will insist on oversight by the European Court of Justice, while Labor says the UK will not set the rules.
Sir Ivan questioned Labour's plans to align with EU rules in some sectors and retain freedom to diverge in others, saying Brussels and Paris would see it as “just the latest great version of British cherry picking”.
< p>Labour Party wants to formalize foreign policy and security cooperation with Brussels, to which the EU is considered open, especially after the war in Ukraine. Cooperation on issues such as sanctions coordination is being carried out on an ad hoc basis after British negotiators rejected an EU proposal for a binding agreement to cooperate in Brexit negotiations.
Sir Julian King, the former British ambassador to Ireland and France, says Labor must be prepared to have “really minute and difficult discussions”; Photo: OLIVIER HOSLE/EPA
“They recognize that we are the leading players in Ukraine, that we have an effective, well-equipped military and a global foreign policy, so we offer something,” Lord Darroch said.< /p>
“The Europeans will be very careful about inadvertently boosting the UK defense industry as part of any deal,” he added.
Although the deal could open the door to negotiations in other security areas, according to Sir Julian, he added. that attempts to use defense as a bargaining chip to extract EU concessions elsewhere risk backfiring.
Recent Comments