Cyprus Mail 1 March 2025
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| British Foreign Secretary David Lammy talks to President of France Emmanuel Macron next to Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire |
Both the EU and the UK were weakened by their separation, these critical times call for them to join forces again
By Marios Eliades
Eighty years have already gone by since those who conceived the European idea, Jean Monnet, Robert Schumann, Altiero Spinelli, Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenauer and others, laid the foundations of the most ambitious peace undertaking the world has ever known after the carnage of World War II.
The European Union (EU), as the endeavour for European integration has eventually evolved, has since rendered significant services to the peoples of Europe, predominant amongst them being an almost undisturbed peaceful coexistence for eight decades. It is an unprecedented achievement for the nations of our war-ravaged continent.
Notwithstanding this invaluable contribution, the EU continues to present serious deficits in its institutional organisation, functioning and, above all, in its cohesion. Due to these shortcomings, the union plays a restricted, if not feeble part on the international stage. Its geopolitical, economic and diplomatic impact on today’s world, especially over the last 20 years, remains limited when compared to that of the world’s great powers, such as the US, China and perhaps Russia.
As if the structural weaknesses shown by the union since its establishment were not enough, there came in 2020 the exit of Britain from the European flock, causing a further shrinking in the role of the EU in today’s world.
The European Union has ever since been trying to heal the wounds caused by Brexit. Despite all the talk in EU circles on the issue, the real truth is that the union would have been very different and undoubtedly more powerful had Britain retained its membership.
In Britain, on the other hand, the business community, the research centres, its famous universities and a host of the country’s other representatives make constant appeals to the succeeding governments to review the relationship of Britain with the EU to the benefit of the British people. Chancellor Rachel Reeves strives desperately to achieve even a modest rate of growth for the hard-pressed British economy.
In the summer of 2024, the British by an overwhelming majority put the Labour Party in power, led by Sir Keir Starmer. On assuming the premiership, both the prime minister and the Foreign Secretary David Lammy wasted no time in declaring through newspaper articles and official statements the need for Britain to reset its relationship with the European Union.
The factors taken into consideration both by the prime minister and the foreign secretary of the country in supporting a more substantive and close relationship with the union, were the following:
- The serious geopolitical deterioration of the international situation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ominously increasing contentious stance of China in the area of the Far East, as well as the return to power in the US of President Trump and his close associates (Elon Musk et al). President Trump and the group governing the US today are displaying obvious contempt, if not hostility, towards both Britain and the EU. (Characteristic examples of this were the threat by President Trump to impose tariffs on European exports to the US, and the blatant intervention by Elon Musk, hyperminister of the Trump administration in the internal affairs of Britain, when he appealed to the British king to oust from power the democratically elected prime minister of the country). The unbecoming American attitude towards Europe culminated in the recent unbearably offensive speech by the US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference.
- The recognition on the part of the British government that the exit of Britain from the EU had substantially contributed to slowing down the growth rate of the economy, making its huge problems even worse.
- Lastly, the spectacular swing of British public opinion. Successive opinion polls, with the latest one being that of YouGov, show the public as recognising that they had made a historic mistake in voting for Brexit. On the basis of the YouGov, only 30 per cent of the British people now believe that Brexit was the right decision, with 55 per cent of participants taking a stand on the country rejoining the EU.
It is known that during the election campaign, Starmer had stated that resetting the relations between Britain and the EU would not lead to the country’s re-entry into the Single Market, the Customs Union between Britain and the EU or the free movement of people between the two sides.
Despite this commitment by Starmer, I am of the view that the tectonic shifts brought about by the election of Trump and the way that Britain is being looked upon today by the American superpower, Starmer has a duty to review his “red lines”.
This is what is primarily dictated by the political and economic interest of the British people and Europe at large. He should make a brave overarching decision to work towards Britain returning to the European family with full accession. Any other choice would run contrary to the interests of the British people, as well as to that of the European member states of the union.
Save only very few objections at the European bureaucratic level, the European Union, appears very favourably inclined towards the idea of restoring a special close relationship with Britain. The first visits by Starmer to European capitals (Berlin, Paris etc) immediately after his election and the ensuing statements were very encouraging. Even more indicative has been the recent statement of the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country presently holds the EU presidency, who addressed the British guests in these warm words: “You are still in our hearts. We are still missing you.”
There is, I believe, no particular need to demonstrate the benefit that would ensue both for Britain and the EU by the return of Britain to the union. It suffices to mention certain characteristic properties of Britain in order to ascertain the benefit to both sides.
Britain then is:
- An important country with a market of 68 million people.
- An economically developed country with international standing.
- A country with an undisputable democratic tradition, whose participation in the union would contribute substantially to addressing the anti-democratic tendencies that threaten the union today. (See the rise of the extreme right in Austria, France, Germany, Italy et al).
- A country with a nuclear arsenal and an important war industry that would accelerate and considerably strengthen the security of the whole of the EU.
- A permanent member of the UN Security Council.
- A country whose presence in the EU would substantially strengthen the bargaining position of the EU in negotiations with the US and the other superpowers of the modern world.
In an age when the EU risks becoming marginalised on account of a great power conflict (USA-China-Russia), and Britain is in danger of shrinking even more as an international player, there are serious reasons why the two sides should handle the issue of a possible new relationship with particular care, and above all with political courage, aiming at the full integration of Britain in our European structure.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for an extraordinary meeting of European leaders, in order to study the tectonic political shifts taking place across the globe. A particular issue is the creation of a common fund (Eurobond) by the member states of the union for the safeguarding of European defence and security (including Ukraine), a change proposed and promoted by the premiers of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Poland Donald Tusk.
An official summit meeting has been scheduled for next April between British Prime Minister Starmer and the EU leadership with a view to resetting the relations between Britain and the EU. The leaders of the two sides need to be aware that history is knocking at their doors, calling on them to see with a clear mind the immediate and more importantly the long-term interests of our continent and those of the European peoples as a whole.
Instead of dwelling solely on the creation of the above Eurobond for the defence of Europe, let them examine in earnest the possibility of setting up a European Fund for the Support of our Common Destinywith all that it entails, in this way safeguarding the unity of our continent, our culture and our way of life, which are today threatened by the fleetingly powerful of whatever inclination.
Marios Eliades is a former transport minister of Cyprus
