{"id":166958,"date":"2025-06-08T06:48:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T06:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166958\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T06:48:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T06:48:45","slug":"the-uk-and-eu-vow-to-mend-their-brexit-battered-ties-they-will-set-a-new-agenda-and-hold-summits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166958\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK and EU vow to mend their Brexit battered ties. They will set a new agenda and hold summits"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 The United Kingdom and the European Union agreed on Wednesday to strengthen their relationship<\/a> after the damage caused by Brexit and to hold a series of meetings, including at the highest level, on issues like economic growth, energy, security and migration.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued after talks in Brussels, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on \u201cthe importance of the unique relationship\u201d they share and vowed to \u201cambitiously\u201d strengthen their cooperation.<\/p>\n

The leaders both recommitted to the Withdrawal Agreement and other pacts reached on the terms of Brexit as Britain left the world\u2019s biggest trade bloc four years ago, the first country to do so, creating a deep rift between them.<\/p>\n

They also reaffirmed their commitment to uphold international law and to the European Convention on Human Rights. Hard-line Brexiteers want the U.K. to leave the convention so that asylum-seekers can be deported without the intervention of rights courts.<\/p>\n

Britons voted to leave the EU during the 2016 Brexit referendum, when a key promise of the campaign to exit was that it would give the U.K. more control over its borders<\/a>. But immigration figures have gone up, not down, since then.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen and Starmer underlined the shared challenges that they face, notably because of Russia\u2019s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, and they both \u201creiterated their unwavering support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said that \u201ca stable, positive and forward-looking relationship was in their mutual interests and provided the basis for long term cooperation.\u201d An agenda for their cooperation will be established in coming months.<\/p>\n

It would start by \u201cdefining together the areas in which strengthened cooperation would be mutually beneficial, such as the economy, energy, security and resilience, in full respect of their internal procedures and institutional prerogatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two said they would meet again in the fall, and that the first of what should become a regular series of EU-U.K. summits should be held early next year.<\/p>\n

Earlier, standing alongside von der Leyen, Starmer told reporters that he believes \u201cthe British public want to return to pragmatic, sensible leadership when it comes to dealing with our closest neighbors, to make Brexit work and to deliver in their interests, to find ways to boost economic growth, strengthen our security and tackle shared challenges like irregular migration and climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen welcomed his visit and the opportunity to strengthen EU-U.K. relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a set of solid agreements in place,\u201d she said. \u201cWe should explore the scope for more cooperation while we focus on the full and faithful implementation\u201d of the Brexit agreements underpinning their painful and costly divorce.<\/p>\n

Starmer also held talks with the other leaders of the bloc\u2019s main institutions: European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.<\/p>\n

The EU, for its part, wants to build bridges between young people on either side of the English Channel by introducing a program that would allow young EU and U.K. citizens to study, work and live<\/a> for short periods in the U.K. and the EU, respectively. Supporters of Brexit oppose it.<\/p>\n

Since his center-left Labour Party\u2019s resounding election win<\/a> on July 4, Starmer has sought a larger role for the United Kingdom on the global stage after years of soured relations with Europe over Brexit.<\/p>\n

He has vowed to reduce some of the post-Brexit barriers for people and goods that have undermined ties between Britain and the bloc. Starmer insists, though, that he won\u2019t reverse Brexit, or rejoin the EU\u2019s single market and customs union.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Pan Pylas contributed to this report from London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 The United Kingdom and the European Union agreed on Wednesday to strengthen their relationship after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[7665,802,748,51,2000,5215,299,5187,2557,1699,4179,4884,8614,807,38780,285,7661,16,15,11654,1220,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-166958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-belgium-government","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-eurocopa-2024","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-european","16":"tag-european-commission","17":"tag-european-union","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-great-britain","20":"tag-international-agreements","21":"tag-keir-starmer","22":"tag-political-refugees","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-united-kingdom-government","28":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","29":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114646411082695940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}