British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to hold regular leaders’ summits between Britain and the EU following Starmer’s visit to Brussels on Wednesday (2 October).
The first summit will be held “in the first half of next year,” the prime minister said in a press conference on Wednesday evening.
Starmer made his first trip to Brussels as prime minister on Wednesday, in service of what he calls a “reset” of relations with the EU.
Britain left the Union in early 2020 with a trade deal and an agreement on the rights of citizens from either side. But lingering disagreements remain over implementing those agreements, in addition to disputes over agricultural trade and fishing rights, among other sticking points.
The British premier met von der Leyen for talks on Wednesday afternoon, followed by brief meetings later in the day with the presidents of the European Parliament and the European Council.
“We’re putting our relationship with Europe on a more solid, stable footing,” Starmer told reporters in a press conference that evening.
“The detailed work to take this forward starts now. We’ve agreed to hold regular UK-EU summits at leader level to review progress, starting with a summit in the first half of next year.”
Starmer said the summits will aim to make progress on “promoting growth and prosperity, working together on shared challenges like climate change, energy security and illegal migration, and strengthening our shared security and stability.”
Ahead of the meeting, the European Commission and 10 Downing Street – the British prime minister’s office – had been tight-lipped about what von der Leyen and Starmer would discuss.
In the press conference on Wednesday evening, Starmer said the details of ongoing disputes between Britain and the EU, such as fishing rights, had not been “in the nature of the discussion today.”
Instead, he said the purpose of his meeting with von der Leyen had been “to set the tone, set the ambition” and “to set in place how we would go about these discussions and where we thought the appropriate timelines were.”
Nevertheless, Starmer emphasised on Wednesday that “there will be no return to freedom of movement, no return to the customs union, no return to the single market.” He added, “we will find constructive ways to work together and deliver from the British people.”
When asked about the EU’s wish to set up a “youth mobility” scheme that would allow young Europeans to study in Britain, Starmer said that “free movement is a red line” for Britain.
Starmer and von der Leyen published a joint written statement after their meeting, saying they had agreed to pursue “strengthened cooperation in the coming months.”
It said the first leaders’ summit “should take place ideally in early 2025,” but von der Leyen and Starmer “agreed to meet again this autumn.”
Britain’s decision to leave the EU was the consequence of a referendum held in 2016, when Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party was in opposition.
Starmer, who became a British MP one year before the referendum, backed the losing “Remain” side and later called for the vote to be re-run.
But he promised to respect the result after becoming Labour Party leader in 2020, following the party’s defeat in the Brexit-dominated December 2019 general election.
Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won that election on a promise to finalise a deal with Brussels that saw Britain fully withdraw from the EU’s single market and customs union.
Labour won a landslide victory under Starmer in July of this year, promising to improve relations with the EU without returning to the Union, its single market or its customs union.
[Edited by Martina Monti]
Source: euractiv.com
