Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – MEP Sandro Gozi calls for details from the UK’s Labour management and expresses a ‘new phase in bilateral relationship’ is achievable.
Chair of the EU Parliament’s delegation to the EU-UK Parliament partnership assembly, MEP Sandro Gozi said that Keir Starmer’s government must explain what it wants from a reset of Britain’s association with the EU. In his interview, Sandro Gozi, an Italian ex-European affairs minister, expressed there was potential for a reset with the Starmer administration, which had offered “a change in attitude”.
What does Gozi expect from the UK’s reset with the EU?
“There is a possibility to enter into a new stage in our bilateral relationship,”
said Gozi.
The Italian politician expressed he was neither happy nor unhappy with the British government’s approach so far and was in listening mode.
“I think that it is the UK government who has to spell out what they convey with resetting,”
he stated.
He hoped, he stated, to see more collaboration on foreign policy and security, the green transition and artificial intelligence, but added:
“It is the British flank that must identify what are the potential items to tell us what we can do together.”
The EU has stated the British government needs to fully enforce existing agreements on Northern Ireland and the rights of EU citizens in the UK if it desires to improve the relationship.
How will youth mobility affect UK-EU bilateral relations?
Some allies of the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, have also stated the UK would be “judged on its willingness to compromise” on a suggested youth mobility deal that would give British and EU nationals aged 18-30 rights to live, study and travel in the UK and an EU country for a time-limited period.
What are Labour’s concerns about the youth mobility deal?
However, Labour has opposed the proposals, fearing the scheme would be sensed as a return to the free movement of people.
MEP Gozi expressed he understood it was “a very sensitive issue” for the UK, adding:
“At least we should be ready to actively discuss this issue between the two sides, because I believe that providing opportunities to young British citizens and young EU citizens is very important.”
Later this month MEP Sandro Gozi and members of his committee will travel to London to sit with MPs and possibly cabinet ministers.
“I hope that we can create a special partnership with the UK because there are existential challenges that we are both facing,”
he stated, citing the war in Europe, the climate problem, global governance and the crisis of multilateralism in an age of growing threats to liberal democracy. From a military point of view, the UK was “an unavoidable partner”, he said.
