Will there be a Breturn after Brexit (a play on words with the verbs exit and return, which mean "I leave" and "I return")? Ten years after the referendum to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom regrets it, but the 27 member states do not seem ready to accept it back into their ranks anytime soon, writes BTA, citing AFP.
In recent months, surveys have shown that a clear majority of Britons are convinced that leaving the EU after the referendum on June 23, 2016 was a mistake.
This U-turn has prompted analysts to invent new concepts inspired by Brexit to describe the opposite phenomenon – the hypothetical return of Britain to the EU: Bregret, Breturn, Breunion (a play on words from regret – regret; reunion – reunification).
Beyond the play on words, this is also the reason for heated political debates in Britain about the strategy to be followed.
The most serious rival of the resigned Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Labour Party and a possible new leader of the United Kingdom – Andy Burnham, believes that leaving the EU was a mistake, and said that he hopes that his country will one day return to the European family. However, he did not commit to a possible candidacy or a deadline.
An option that was ruled out by the previous Prime Minister, who was satisfied with his work in warming relations with the 27 EU countries.
It is also unclear whether the Union will accept Britain back. AFP interviewed six European diplomats, each of whom said their country would be open to it, but only if the British were prepared to make concessions, which most of them doubted. "They are not prepared to accept the constraints of EU membership", said one.
No one is in a hurry to start the conversation
The 27 member states are also in no hurry to start this conversation. Several countries believe the EU is doing better since leaving London and are not missing the disputes that plagued the bloc while Britain was still a member.
"Easier" since London left because "we no longer waste time negotiating exemptions on every issue", said another diplomat.
Despite decades of membership in the European Community and later the EU, London has never joined the euro or the Schengen area and has negotiated a discount on its contribution to the EU budget every time since Margaret Thatcher's rule (the famous "British discount").
All this behavior seemed to the other members of the Union as a clear lack of commitment. For another diplomat, however, Britain's departure has one regrettable consequence - the decline in the quality of Shakespearean language in official EU documents.
Others, on the other hand, hold very dear memories.
The EU has changed
Sebastian – an expert at the think tank "Chatham House", pointed out that after Brexit, countries lobbying for economic liberalism or pro-Atlantic policies have lost an influential counterweight to France's sovereignist ambitions.
Freed from Britain, in recent years the EU has embarked on a quest for "strategic autonomy" and open support for "European preferences" in certain sectors.
"Great Britain does not realize how much the European Union has changed in the past 10 years," the expert said.
Although the Covid crisis, Donald Trump and the war in Ukraine contributed to this change, Britain's departure has prompted Europe to reform itself so that it is not in danger of losing other members, said a third diplomat.
With some success – most populist and far-right movements are no longer campaigning for leaving the EU, but for changing it from within. The British and Europeans would have had the opportunity to assess the state of their new relationship at a summit scheduled for July 22 in Brussels, which was subsequently postponed after the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Following the tensions of recent months over the military industry, the doubling of EU steel tariffs and support for the "Made in Europe" brand, several agreements were expected to be concluded.
However, these would probably be small steps (such as measures to promote youth mobility or food trade). Far from the grand reconciliation that some on the other side of the Channel dream of.