The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union to “fix” Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen has said, after Labour pledged to forge closer ties with the bloc if elected.
The European Commission president said “we goofed it up” when asked if Britain could ever reverse Brexit on Tuesday night in Brussels.
She was speaking amid much improved UK relations since the signing of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland in February and after the shock victory of Geert Wilders, who wants the Netherlands to leave the EU, in Dutch elections last week.
“First of all, thank God, with the Windsor agreement, we had a new beginning for old friends. Very important,” Mrs von der Leyen said at an event hosted by the Politico website.
“And then I must say, I keep telling my children, you have to fix it. We goofed it up. You have to fix it. So I think here, too, the direction of travel, my personal opinion is clear.”
There is no expectation that the UK will ask to rejoin the EU anytime soon, which is a lengthy and complex process that can take many years.
But poll-leading Sir Keir Starmer has promised a major rewrite of the post-Brexit trading relationship if Labour wins a general election, which is expected to be held next year.
EU will enforce Brussels rules on UK
Labour insists Britain won’t be a “rule taker” if it negotiates a new deal.
But the EU will demand the UK align with Brussels rules in return for an agreement on animal and plant health standards.
That veterinary deal would remove red tape on British trade with the EU and Northern Ireland but was rejected by the Tories on sovereignty grounds.
Mr Sunak moved to repair strained relations with the EU after he became Prime Minister in October 2022.
He calculated that a closer relationship was necessary for economic reasons during the cost of living crisis and for geopolitical reasons after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK and EU were at loggerheads over the Irish Sea border until the Windsor Framework was agreed, which calmed tension that led to threats of a trade war.
Since then, Brussels has approved UK post-Brexit participation of Horizon, its flagship research programme, and its Copernicus space programme.
David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, said: “Mrs von der Leyen should understand that the British people are not children. They are grownups who decided to exercise their treaty right to leave the EU.
“She should also consider why so many member states are unhappy about the continued acquisition powers by Brussels at their expense.”
Ukraine fulfilled “almost” all the requirements
Von der Leyen added that Ukraine had fulfilled “almost” all the requirements set out by the EU to start accession talks, ahead of a pivotal European Council summit in December.
“To see the deep and structural reforms that Ukraine is doing while fighting an existential war is to me deeply impressing,” von der Leyen told the POLITICO event.
“They have fulfilled all the necessary requirements for almost all the seven steps we asked them to do … when they became a candidate country.”
The EU is expected to announce the opening of accession talks for Ukraine, which was granted candidate status in June, following the mid-December summit of European leaders in Brussels.
Read more via The Telegraph/Politico
