Insight
UK-EU relations: Time to raise the level of ambition by Sir Julian King, 21 March 2025 Geopolitical turbulence has put UK-EU differences in perspective. Britain and the EU need much closer ties. There is a lot going on in the world. How much bandwidth is left in the EU and the UK to focus on rebuilding and reinforcing relations between the two? That is a valid question. But as Donald Trump shakes up, to put it mildly, existing alliances and challenges the values-based international order and post-World War II institutions, the question is also how long can the EU and the UK afford not to invest more in their relationship. I was in Paris at the time of the Brexit vote and worked in the Commission in its aftermath. I do not for a moment underestimate its profound impact, for the deep damage that it did to trust. But the referendum was nine years ago. The world has changed, and not for the better. The things that separated the EU and the UK have been put into perspective. We are on the same side over Ukraine, in the UN, the G7 and the G20. How will the harsh realities of the new geopolitics impact UK-EU relations? Some might say not so much. The action is elsewhere: in coalitions of the willing, for example, to support Ukraine. That is certainly part of the answer. Reinforcing relations between like-minded governments matters. But so does reinforcing the institutional relationships that underpin our rules-based international order. That is why the UK supports the G7, the World Trade Organisation and the UN, and why the UK’s relationship with the EU matters. With everything that is going on, it is easy to forget that there is an EU-UK summit coming up on May 19th. Preparations are underway, largely out of the political spotlight. Given the international context, it is worth looking again at the level of ambition, in London and in Brussels, to make sure it matches the scale of the challenge. I have argued elsewhere that on foreign policy, defence, issues of safety and tackling people-smuggling gangs, energy security, wider economic security, as well as economic relations, it is in our mutual self-interest to develop new ways of working together, to counter shared threats and pursue mutual CER INSIGHT: UK-EU RELATIONS: TIME TO RAISE THE LEVEL OF AMBITION 21 March 2025
INFO@CER.EU | WWW.CER.EU
1