{"id":945901,"date":"2026-05-08T10:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945901\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:52:15","slug":"future-of-uk-lies-in-the-eu-after-brexit-failure-say-european-greens-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945901\/","title":{"rendered":"Future of UK lies in the EU after Brexit \u2018failure\u2019, say European Greens | Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Green party<\/a> has urged the UK to consider rejoining the EU and draw a line under the \u201cpolitical and economic failure\u201d of Brexit.<\/p>\n

A text declaring that \u201cthe United Kingdom\u2019s future lies in the European Union\u201d was adopted by a large majority of European green parties at the movement\u2019s annual leadership meeting on Friday, the day before Europe Day.<\/p>\n

Insiders said it was the first time a European political party had officially invited the UK to rejoin the EU. \u201cSomebody has to trigger the debate,\u201d Vula Tsetsi, the European Green party cochair, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main discussion belongs first and foremost to the democratic debate in the United Kingdom and we don\u2019t want to take that place, but we would like to trigger that debate as a European political family. Maybe other political families will join, but for us the moment is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intervention came after Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour party suffered heavy losses in local elections<\/a> at the expense of Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform party gains, while the Greens appeared to be struggling to convert increased votes into seats.<\/p>\n

The text on reversing Brexit<\/a> was part of a broader declaration by European Green party leaders calling for energy independence and action to counter the far-right.<\/p>\n

It states: \u201cBrexit has been a political and economic failure with lasting negative consequences for people in the United Kingdom and across Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Green family is clear: the United Kingdom\u2019s future lies in the European Union. We stand ready to welcome the UK back alongside other countries when it chooses this path.\u201d<\/p>\n

The declaration means that green parties across Europe, such as Die Gr\u00fcnen in Germany or Les \u00c9cologistes in France, to use their short names, should reflect this position in national debates and policy positions.<\/p>\n

Delegates from 30 European green parties gathered in Brussels on Friday to approve the text, including those from non-EU member states. Representatives from the British green parties were not present because of the local and parliamentary elections, but were entitled to take a position on the paper remotely.<\/p>\n

People from green parties across Europe during the European Green party congress in Lisbon, Portugal in December last year. Photograph: Ricardo Rocha\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The Green party leader for England and Wales, Zach Polanski, has described Brexit as \u201ca sledgehammer to an already weak economy\u201d<\/a> and told ITV\u2019s Peston show that he was \u201cfirmly, very much in favour\u201d of rejoining the EU eventually. He discussed the rejoin declaration with Tsetsi and the fellow European Greens cochair Ciar\u00e1n Cuffe at a meeting in Manchester on 1 May.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Green party of England and Wales said: \u201cBrexit has been a disaster and we have always said we should rejoin the EU when the political circumstances are right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greens leader, Zack Polanski (centre), with party candidates and supporters after making a speech in Cardiff before the Senedd election. Photograph: Ben Birchall\/PA<\/p>\n

The intervention could intensify the debate inside the UK about closer economic ties with the EU, amid a looming downturn<\/a> caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran, Donald Trump\u2019s criticisms of Keir Starmer, and heightened awareness of Russia as a security threat.<\/p>\n

However, the Greens are represented in few EU governments, and no other European political parties are expected to follow suit.<\/p>\n

The influence of green parties across Europe has diminish in recent years, highlighted by losses in the 2024 European parliament elections and their ejection from Germany\u2019s governing coalition.<\/p>\n

Tsetsi insisted the Greens fortunes were rising again, pointing to recent election results in Denmark<\/a>, votes in the UK and mayoral contests across Europe \u2013 Greens and affiliated parties picked up mayoralties in Riga and Copenhagen in 2025. \u201cThis is a moment where Greens are picking up \u2026 and they are able to influence the political debate,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n

The veteran Greek politician brushed aside suggestions that the UK had been a difficult member state<\/a>, saying times had changed. \u201cHistory shows that Brexit was a mistake and both sides lost a lot. And I am very confident that we will be able to learn from the mistakes and to build a stronger European Union together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political situation, she stressed, had evolved since the Brexit referendum in 2016: \u201cThis is a historical moment again \u2026 Ten years after Brexit took place, Europe needs to be reinforced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Green party has urged the UK to consider rejoining the EU and draw a line under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-945901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116538582460633495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945901","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=945901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}