Former EU Brexit officials have warned that the United Kingdom would not enjoy exceptional terms if it decided to rejoin the European Union, following renewed debates on the issue among Labour leadership candidates.
The question of reversing Brexit has returned to the spotlight over the weekend, with prominent figures within the party outlining their bids to become the next prime minister. Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who has confirmed plans to stand in any leadership race, placed a future proposal to rejoin the trade bloc at the centre of his first speech as a backbench MP.
However, former officials familiar with the Brexit negotiations have cautioned that Britain may not secure the special conditions it previously held if it were to begin talks on rejoining the bloc. Georg Riekeles, a former adviser on the EU's Brexit taskforce, stated that he did not foresee an appetite for opening up new decades of British exceptionalism.
“There is a strategic need for the EU and the UK to work together, but I don’t think there would be an appetite for opening up new decades of British exceptionalism,” he told The Guardian. “The price of re-entry would be membership on normal terms.”
While the EU has made it clear that the UK would be allowed to rejoin the bloc should it wish to, it is unlikely to be permitted on the same terms as before. Potential requirements could include joining the Euro currency, entering the Schengen passport-free zone, and forfeiting the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, which reduced Britain's EU budget contribution by approximately 66 per cent.
Mr Streeting’s intervention over the weekend forced leadership rival Andy Burnham to distance himself from his previous Remain stance and desire to reverse the 2016 referendum, as he seeks to win a by-election in the leave-voting constituency of Makerfield. Sir Keir Starmer has also raised the prospect of the UK rejoining the EU “years down the line,” which has been interpreted as a move to undermine Mr Burnham’s position on Brexit.
Italy’s former Europe minister Sandro Gozi stated that re-entry negotiations would “certainly” begin with standard terms. “It is clear that the tailor-made suit is gone, and it is clear that the negotiation of the UK should tackle all the issues which are foreseen for any candidate,” he told The Guardian.
The current MEP and chair of the European parliament’s delegation to the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly added: “Brexit has been a major disaster for the UK, but it has also been a loss for the EU. If in a moment of such huge global turmoil, the UK decided to ask to rejoin the EU, I think that for our political model it would be a great victory.”
