Almost 10 years after the Brexit referendum of 2016, the language from some European officials has barely changed. The message is still: The U.K. must pay.
Yes, of course, we must be vigilant and protect EU interests. The U.K. cannot expect to be treated the same as before, or to cherry-pick its relationship with the bloc. Moreover, there remains a number of outstanding post-Brexit issues that need to be resolved — on fisheries, trade, energy, migration.
Fisheries, in particular, is no small issue. Those who dismiss it as inconsequential compared to other concerns, such as European defense, make a political mistake. British and European fishermen need and deserve certainty about their activities. And we need to keep in mind that coastal communities can be lured by populist temptation.
The U.K. government and the EU need to work together to resolve all these issues. Commitments must be fulfilled, and the Brexit agreements must be implemented in full — including on the very sensitive issue of Northern Ireland.
But the EU also needs to embrace this possible new era in its relationship with the U.K. with enthusiasm. It should abandon the confrontational approach it and some member countries have maintained despite the “reset” announced by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The U.K. is an indispensable partner for our continent’s defense and security. Our defense supply chains are intertwined. There are not many capable militaries in Europe to begin with — and the U.K. is one of them. It’s a strong ally within NATO, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a nuclear-armed state. There’s no credible European defense without the U.K.
