EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas urged Brussels and London to use next week’s UK-EU summit to begin taking “small steps” toward closer relations, saying she would like the United Kingdom to return to the bloc despite lingering difficulties over Brexit.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, ahead of a European Political Community meeting, Kallas said the UK’s departure had left “certain traumas” in the EU and warned that negotiations would not be easy. The EPC brings together EU leaders and leaders from outside the bloc.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is seeking a series of sectoral agreements covering carbon emissions trading, energy, migration, agricultural produce and industry. Such deals would closely align London and Brussels. Burnham has also hinted that his Labour Party could pledge a referendum on rejoining the EU in its next election manifesto.
Earlier this week, Burnham told ministers he would use next week’s summit to pursue “opportunities that make people in this country better off,” adding: “There is a significant prize.” He spoke at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey on Thursday morning before travelling to Dublin for the EPC meeting. There, he announced that the UK had become the first country to sanction all 10 of Russia’s major oil producers and chaired a side meeting on defence support for Ukraine.
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