German chancellor<\/a> Friedrich Merz<\/a> has said he \u201cdeplores\u201d Brexit<\/a> as he signed a major cooperation deal between his country and Britain. <\/a><\/p>\n At a press conference on Thursday alongside Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>, Mr Merz said that countries should respond to the major challenges of our time \u201ctogether\u201d. <\/p>\n Speaking through a translator, Mr Merz, on his first official visit to the UK since he became chancellor in May, told the press conference that he \u201cdeplores deeply\u201d the UK\u2019s decision to leave the EU.<\/p>\n The UK-German treaty, the biggest between the two countries since the end of the Second World War, sees them both agree to collaborate on migration<\/a>, trade and security. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer in No 10 on Thursday (PA)<\/p>\n Sir Keir <\/a>and the German leader also agreed to “work ever more closely” on a range of issues.<\/p>\n The deal marks what has been a turnaround in Anglo-German relations. <\/p>\n Six years ago the then German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that post-Brexit Britain would be a potential competitor to the EU, as France and Germany appeared to close ranks. <\/p>\n Under the new agreement, Germany<\/a> will close a loophole to allow police to seize small boats <\/a>being used by migrants<\/a> to cross the Channel.<\/p>\n As part of moves designed to cut post-Brexit red tape<\/a>, German school trips to the UK will also become visa-free by the end of the year, while British visitors to Germany will be able to use its passport e-gates by the end of August.<\/a><\/p>\n The fast track will initially be for frequent travellers but will eventually be extended to all British visitors, as part of Sir Keir\u2019s wider Brexit \u201creset\u201d with the EU.<\/p>\n Sir Keir described the document, known as the Kensington Treaty, as \u201cvery special\u201d.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Visa rules for German school parties and the procedures for passing through airports for Britons are set to change<\/p>\n The Labour leader said it was “evidence of the closeness of our relationship as it stands today” as well as a “statement of intent, a statement of our ambition to work ever more closely together”. <\/p>\n Mr Merz, a committed supporter of the European Union, once described himself as \u201ctruly European\u201d. <\/p>\n And a recent poll showed that most people in Germany, as well as in three other large EU countries, <\/a>would<\/a> welcome the UK back into the bloc. <\/p>\n At the same time most Britons are in favour of rejoining, <\/a>the YouGov survey of six western European nations found, but only if they can keep the opt-outs the UK previously had, such as remaining outside the Schengen zone and keeping their own currency.<\/p>\n The poll found that at least half of people asked in France, Germany, <\/a>Italy<\/a> and Spain, supported the UK being allowed to rejoin, a range that spanned from 51 per cent support in Italy<\/a> to 63 per cent in Germany<\/a>. <\/p>\n Those figures fell to less than half, however, if Britain wanted to rejoin on the same terms as before, with its opt-outs intact. <\/p>\n The Office for Budget Responsibility<\/a> estimates that the size of the UK economy will be 4 per cent smaller over the long term because of Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-270207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114870457966182921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270207","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=270207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Friedrich](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ca20ce1f44fb7b6f89412b0e26a4dd6dY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzUyODQyNDM4-2.81020633.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Visa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/17125425-479146d9-752d-4c8c-a326-d9e7b524e17c.jpg\")
<\/p>\n