EU officials were guarded on the prospect of closer relations with the UK amid growing speculation that London wants to reverse much of the Brexit process.
Relations with the UK were high on the agenda at a meeting of the EU’s general affairs council in Brussels on Tuesday (25 May) and, ahead of the meeting, Ireland’s foreign minister Helen McEntee told reporters that concluding EU-UK negotiations on agrifood standards and emission trading schemes were a top priority.
But other top officials were giving little away. Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’ deputy minister for European affairs, told reporters after the meeting on Tuesday that “tangible progress” had been made during her government’s six-month EU council presidency, pointing to the conclusion of an agreement on Gibraltar and the start of talks on electricity trading.
She added that “ministers shared a clear willingness to continue strengthening relationship in a pragmatic spirit.”
British prime minister Keir Starmer promised a ‘reset’ of UK-EU relations after winning the 2024 elections and has since brought the UK back into the Erasmus student exchange programme as well as parts of the EU’s cohesion policy to support the bloc’s poorest regions. His ministers have also opened talks with EU officials on electricity trading and an agreement on phytosanitary standards that would ease trade in agricultural goods.
