EU leaders willing to build post-Brexit relations with Britain

EU leaders have hinted that they wish to build relations with the UK after seven turbulent years from the seismic Brexit vote, reported The Guardian. On Monday, representatives from all 27 member states said that they have been waiting to “develop further ties between the EU and the UK”. This comes after a deal was sealed on Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland. It is to be noted that the Windsor framework has been agreed between Rishi Sunak and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen. In that, they have stressed the value of being “valuable partners with each other”. Ambassadors and high commissioners of all the EU member states said: "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." Further, they added: "The task ahead is, therefore, to build on this re-engagement and to develop further the ties between the EU and the UK." They also asserted: "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.” 

EU-UK relations, post Brexit 

Ambassadors and high commissioners of all the EU member states have not stressed the ties however has talked about future security and foreign policy arrangements that could be high on the list of new partnership talks. This comes 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, reported the Guardian. Further, both aim to discuss 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. Meanwhile, an influential House of Lords committee has urged the UK's government to start working with EU capitals to remove Brexit barriers that block musicians, young people and professionals from working efficiently in Europe. The UK’s Europe Minister Leo Docherty shared with the EU European affairs committee that this was the first topic of discussion in his visits to EU capitals. The reason why EU leaders have chosen Europe Day because of a resonance they have seen 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, as power Guardian reports.