With a war in Ukraine and the U.S. rethinking alliances, Britain and the European Union may need each other more than they thought. They're holding their first summit since Brexit Monday.
With a war in Ukraine and the U.S. rethinking alliances, Britain and the European Union may need each other more than they thought. They're holding their first summit since Brexit Monday.Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, left, and Keir Starmer, prime minister of the U.
K., greet each other, ahead of their bilateral meeting at the 6th European Political Community summit on May 16 in Albania.LONDON — As Britain and the European Union hold their first summit Monday since Brexit, analysts say it's less like a couple getting back together, and more like exes realizing they've still got to work together because of the kids.It's been nine years since Britons voted to leave the EU, and five years since the change actually kicked in. For some Brits, Brexit means the ability to control their own borders, and freedom from foreign regulation in Brussels. For others, it was an embarrassing own goal that left their economy smaller and rattled relations with their biggest trading partner. But with a war in Ukraine and the Trump administration rethinking old alliances, Britain and the EU are realizing they may need each other more than they thought.On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes top EU officials to London, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for their first official summit since their breakup. Here's what's expected to happen — and what's not.a majority of Britons now believe it was wrong for the United Kingdom to leave the EU. Some call it" But Brexit was tumultuous. There were campaigns, then the 2016 referendum, then four years of negotiations that followed, then the actual exit in 2020. And there's also now what some call"" – the idea that even if it was a mistake, Britain is resigned to its fate outside the EU, and there's little appetite for reversing the process."It's like a couple broke up but still have quite a lot of things they still have to manage together. So it wasn't just like splitting up the record collection," says Jill Rutter, a former top civil servant for the U.K. who worked on Brexit."It's more like, you agreed on a deal for custody of the kids for five years, but then said, we'll come back to it and sort it out longer term."Britain and the EU already have tariff-free trade, according to their 2020 breakup agreement. So what they're working out at Monday's summit is smaller stuff: How much access the European fishing industry can have to British waters, whether British college students can work summer jobs in Europe and vice versa, and which airport e-passport gates citizens can use.The British government will remain outside the EU's single market trading bloc.Trump announces trade deal with the U.K., first since his tariffs sent markets reeling When it was part of the EU, anyone from one of its other member states could live and work freely in the U.K. It's one of the things that. Many Britons who voted to leave the EU say they did so because they want to control their own borders, limit immigration and have a say in who can settle in the country. Immigration is still a contentious issue in Britain. A far-right anti-immigrant party called Reform U.K., led by a Trump confidant Nigel Farage, madeSome on the right accuse Starmer of going against the will of voters in that 2016 Brexit referendum by holding this summit. Some front-page "We're in a situation where Reform U.K. is doing very, very well in the polls. Both they and the Conservative Party are very opposed to any renegotiation with the European Union," explains Anand Menon, professor of European politics at King's College London."So there is a fear on the part of the government that if they go too far, or if they make too much out of this negotiation with the EU, they'll be vulnerable to criticism from the right."Menon says with the single market and freedom of movement off the table, what's left are smaller-scale things: How to improve agricultural trade, or how to make it easier for lawyers and accountants to work in each other's countries.. An initial post-Brexit deal governing reciprocal access to British and European waters is due to expire at the end of June 2026.But overall, analysts say it's the symbolism of this summit — that it's happening at all — rather than its contents, that's important.guarantee Europe's security forever. The U.K. and EU are also both spending more on their own defense, amid Trump's calls for NATO members to share the burden of funding and arming the alliance."Two things are happening in defense and trade: One is that the U.S. no longer looks so committed , and that's why you're getting the Europeanization of defense," says Rutter, the former civil servant."The other is Trump, who's made the whole world's trading environment much more turbulent. Some are saying, don't you want to be in at least one of these big trading blocs? Because that's a safer place to be."But with the war in Ukraine and Trump in power,"both sides recognize that it is incumbent on them to show they can put up a common front," says Menon, the political scientist. "Actually, for all our differences, in a world that's as scary as the one we're living in, there are bigger issues where we need to work together," he says.
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