UK Chancellor in Brussels to renew ties with EU
The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, the country's chief financial minister, met her counterparts from the 27 European Union member states in Brussels on Monday. Her visit is part of the UK’s recent efforts to reset relations with the EU.
“This is a milestone moment, because it is the first time a British minister has addressed the Eurogroup since we left the European Union,” Rachel Reeves said at a press conference. She said she was “really delighted and deeply touched” by the warm reception at the meeting of EU finance ministers.
Since taking office in July, prime minister Keir Starmer's centre-left government has signalled that it wants to turn the page on Brexit and previous Conservative governments' strained relations with the EU. Starmer has, however, ruled out a return to the single European market, customs union or free movement of labour.
"The deal the previous government secured post-Brexit was not the best one for our country"
“Those red lines remain,” Reeves said on Monday. London does want to look at how to smoothen trade flows and boost mutual investment, however.
“We want to build closer trade relationships, and work together on defence and security with our neighbours and trading partners in the European Union, because it is in our collective national interest to do so,” she said.
She said that “the deal the previous government secured post-Brexit was not the best one for our country and indeed has reduced trade flows not just from the UK to the European Union but also from businesses based in the European Union into the UK”.
“And so there is a shared objective and a shared challenge to improve those trade and investment flows,” she said.
Foundations for negotiations
Concrete negotiations will not start until next year. Monday's visit served to “begin to rebuild those bonds of trust that have been fractured in the last few years under the previous government and to show our friends, neighbours and allies in the European Union that we want a reset of those relationships”, Reeves said.
“We have laid the foundations for the negotiations to follow,” Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe said.
The Eurogroup is the consultative body of the finance ministers of the 20 EU member states that have adopted the euro. They meet monthly. Sometimes ministers from the seven other member states are also invited in an “inclusive” format. That was the case on Monday for Reeves' visit.
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, attends a press conference after the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, 9 December 2024 © PHOTO JOHN THYS / AFP
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