OUR British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak According to a detailed Bloomberg report, ministers and government officials have asked ministers and government officials to develop plans to rebuild the UK’s relationship with the European Union after years of post-Brexit standoff.

Influenced in part by the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, senior government officials have developed proposals for how the UK can work more closely with EU countries. on a number of issues. The project focuses on defense, migration and economic cooperation, including issues such as trade, energy and international standards.

Sunak’s turn towards the EU has been described by ministers, diplomats and officials who asked not to be named when discussing the unpublished plans.

Question of Northern Ireland

British officials hope they will be able to announce a solution to their long-standing dispute with the EU in the coming days. on Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade arrangements. And Sunak’s team wants to use this important “loophole” as a basis for improving relations with the Union.

However, to achieve that goal, the 42-year-old prime minister will have to balance delicately between keeping the Brexit hardliners in his party under control and convincing their DUPD allies in Belfast to lift the veto of the devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Even if he succeeds, he will face skepticism from European leaders who have tried to work with the UK for the past seven years as the country has gone through five different prime ministers who have often antagonized the EU. as a “punching bag” to please its domestic audience. The UK will also soon unveil immigration laws that could conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The change in the UK’s strategy towards Europe is not about admitting that Brexit has failed, the government official insisted, arguing that it was a reflection of a changing reality.

Mr Sunak signaled to European leaders that he was determined to resolve the trade issue with Northern Ireland. A deal is close on a technical level, although the prime minister still needs to convince the Democratic Unionist Party and conservative Brexiteers not to derail it.

The problem of immigrants

Chunak’s team considers his relationship with Emmanuel Macron promising, and considers cooperation with France necessary to reduce migration flows in the English Channel.

It is one of Sunak’s five promises to voters ahead of next year’s elections.

This month, Sunak and Macron showed a united front as they both hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The first “test” of the approach will be Sunak’s meeting with Macron in Paris in March, where the British prime minister hopes to make further progress on the transit of migrants.

Defense and diplomatic relations with the EU

The UK is also working on detailed plans to strengthen defense ties with Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This will be one of the main issues at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July, where some senior members of Sunak’s government want to see a new commitment from the Alliance to spend 2% of GDP on defense.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has called for increased investment in the British military as a post-Ukraine update to British defense, security and foreign policy is expected in the coming weeks.

Proposals under consideration include official defense and security relations and dialogue between the UK and the EU, as well as a legal agreement to allow the British military to more easily participate in EU operations. In addition, the UK’s response to the war in Ukraine has given it the opportunity to assume a leading role in NATO’s command and control structures, a senior British official said.

The EU is likely to welcome closer security cooperation, given that the UK and France have the strongest military forces in Europe. Indeed, when Sunak’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, negotiated Brexit terms, the EU pushed for more defense cooperation, but Johnson resisted.

The British government also wants to work more closely with the EU. on joint defense exports to prevent non-European countries from entering into contracts with Russia and China. This may prove more difficult to negotiate.

British officials are concerned that British defense companies could lose their exclusive policy with the EU. for defense exports and see the joint initiative as a hedge against this risk. France and Germany have traditionally tried to outsource major defense contracts to European companies, but a recent deal to develop a fighter jet with Italy and Japan shows it’s possible.

Despite sharp behind-the-scenes differences with Germany, especially on issues such as tanks, the war in Ukraine has seen European states and Britain become more united in foreign and defense policy than at any time in decades.

Britain’s post-Brexit economic health has so far been dominated by sluggish growth and weakening trade with the EU. On Friday, official data showed that the UK’s trade deficit with the EU narrowed. increased to a record high in the last quarter of 2022.

Trade relations with an eye on the US

The British official said they stressed to Sunak that a strong trade relationship with Europe will be essential to address the economic challenges of the future – in areas such as new technology – and to counter threats such as disruptions to global supply chains and China.

The reality is that a more dangerous world, growing authoritarianism and protectionism mean there is no choice but to work closely with allies, the official said. This means abandoning the “crazy strategy” of the recent clashes with Brussels in favor of a more stable relationship of critical friends, he added.

However, government officials are developing a supply chain and import strategy that will propose to ensure the supply of critical goods, such as minerals, from safe countries in the event of future disruptions comparable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The semiconductor strategy will define a similar approach to microchip procurement.

President Biden’s deflation legislation has made London reflect on the risk of the UK ending up between two major trading powers with protectionist policies. UK ministers have contacted their EU counterparts. urging them not to harm British companies as the EU considers its own massive environmental subsidies in response to US actions.

The UK cannot compete with US and EU subsidies, so it must use diplomacy to negotiate protection for British companies on both sides, a British official said. These negotiations are led by the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Trade Kemi Badenoch and Sunak himself.

Badenoch has also moved away from the attention of former Prime Minister Liz Truss on negotiating free trade agreements with non-EU countries. which had a controversial financial benefit in terms of increased exports and investment.

Soft power also plays a key role in another area where Sunak wants to step up the UK’s involvement: what officials are calling “regulatory diplomacy.” The government wants to be able to influence international standards for the essentials of the future, which means working with the EU.

Source: Bloomberg.