{"id":980301,"date":"2026-05-23T17:39:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/980301\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T17:39:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:39:33","slug":"eu-could-fast-track-britains-membership-if-uk-decided-to-reverse-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/980301\/","title":{"rendered":"EU could fast-track Britain\u2019s membership if UK decided to reverse Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Union <\/a>could fast-track Britain\u2019s return to the bloc if it decided to rejoin, dispelling suggestions the UK would be pushed to the back of the queue if it tried to reverse Brexit.<\/a><\/p>\n

The debate over Britain\u2019s EU membership has been reignited<\/a> after former health secretary Wes Streeting said <\/a>the country should rejoin as part of his pitch to lead the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sandro Gozi, the chair of the European delegation to the EU<\/a>-UK Parliamentary Assembly, told The Independent that the European Union<\/a> would see a request to rejoin from the UK as a \u201cmajor victory for the European project\u201d, insisting that there would be a way to fast-track it.<\/p>\n

Brussels sources confirmed the UK\u2019s potential re-accession could take place much more quickly than it would for other candidate countries, due to its significant pre-existing alignment with the bloc.<\/p>\n

While it is thought that the EU would include joining the Euro as a key starting point of talks with the UK, multiple sources said this was unlikely to be a red line given the entry requirements for the Euro are so strict, and the UK currently doesn\u2019t meet them.<\/p>\n

\"Pro-European<\/p>\n

Pro-European Union campaigners hold flags and banners near parliament, Wednesday, May 20, 2026 (AP)<\/p>\n

Speaking about a possible reversal of Brexit<\/a>, Mr Gozi said: \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t see it as a victory for the EU over the UK \u2013 but as a victory for Europe as a whole.\u201d He argued that increasing global turmoil has only increased desire within the EU to welcome Britain back.<\/p>\n

Referencing a possible \u201cfast-track\u201d process of accession, he said: \u201cIt could be done more quickly than for other candidate countries because there is the institutional memory there from when the UK was a member. And there is also already some level of alignment between the UK and EU.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gozi argued that a promise to rejoin the EU could be a good political tool for Labour in its battle against Reform UK, as a clear promise to return could diminish Nigel Farage\u2019s appeal. It comes after YouGov polling conducted last month indicated that almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of the British public want closer ties with the EU, while 55 per cent want to rejoin.<\/p>\n

But he also argued that Britain would need to accept the same terms as any other candidate country, saying the UK would need to give up its \u201cobsession with carve-outs\u201d. He insisted that this would include joining the Euro.<\/p>\n

Not only did the UK previously not have to join the Euro when it was part of the EU, it also negotiated a rebate, reducing Britain\u2019s EU budget contribution by around 66 per cent.<\/p>\n

Mr Gozi\u2019s comments will come as a blow to those keen for the UK to rejoin the EU, as significant compromises \u2013 especially joining the Euro \u2013 would no doubt spark intense criticism from the Tories and Reform UK.<\/p>\n

However, one source said he thinks there would be some level of \u201cwiggle room\u201d in possible re-accession talks.<\/p>\n

\"Ursula<\/p>\n

Ursula von der Leyen says it\u2019s up to the next generation to \u2018fix\u2019 Brexit (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU\u2019s starting point will be that we should commit to joining the Euro in due course. But look at the fact that there are at least five member states who are not in the Euro and show no intention of joining. Denmark, Sweden, Poland and so on. The EU has already had to accept a two-tier position when it comes to Euro membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a former MEP with links to Brussels, pointed out: \u201cYou can\u2019t just join the Euro. The entry criteria are very strict with four economic benchmarks, and the UK doesn\u2019t currently meet them, and it\u2019s a very long way from meeting the one on government debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first source also agreed with Mr Gozi that the process of rejoining could take place \u201cquite quickly\u201d, pointing to Finland, which took just three years to join because it had already been a member of the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK is still aligned with EU legislation and where it has diverged it is very clear where it has diverged. It\u2019s very different than it would be dealing with somewhere like Albania,\u201d they explained. \u201cBoth sides would need to vet existing Albanian legislation, get it translated and then go through it very carefully and see how its applied. In Britain, that\u2019s very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a source close to the EU\u2019s ambassador to the UK tempered hopes of Britain being fast-tracked, insisting that the bloc is focused on getting existing agreements with Britain over the line, including the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) deal on the trade of plants and food.<\/p>\n

\"Wes<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting described Brexit as a \u2018catastrophic mistake\u2019 (James Manning\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

They dismissed speculation about Britain\u2019s future in the union as \u201can internal issue\u201d, adding: \u201cWe have nearly 10 countries that want to join the EU that are candidate accession countries. This is the biggest amount of countries we\u2019ve seen. And there has so far been no request from the UK to rejoin, so there is currently no discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Union has always been clear that the UK would be allowed to rejoin the bloc should it want to, with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in 2023 saying the UK was on a clear \u201cdirection of travel\u201d toward rejoining. She said she had told her children that it was up to the next generation to \u201cfix\u201d the mistake of Brexit.<\/p>\n

Speaking last week, Mr Streeting \u2013 who is expected to launch a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer after quitting the government \u2013 described Britain\u2019s 2016 decision to \u200bleave the European Union as \u201ca catastrophic mistake\u201d, arguing that the UK should seek to rejoin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u200cneed a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain\u2019s future lies with Europe, and one day \u2013 one day \u2013 back in the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted the Labour Party for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union could fast-track Britain\u2019s return to the bloc if it decided to rejoin, dispelling suggestions the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":980302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,272692,2000,272690,299,5187,1699,4884,272691,528,386,183869,92525,16,15,3595],"class_list":["post-980301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-candidate-countries","tag-eu","tag-eu-uk-parliamentary-assembly","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-joining-the-euro","tag-labour-party","tag-reform-uk","tag-sandro-gozi","tag-the-independent","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wes-streeting"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116625117488120275","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980301","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=980301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}