Former EU Officials Say UK Would Face Standard Terms If Seeking Re-Entry

Former officials who worked on the Brexit negotiations said Britain would not receive the special membership terms it held before leaving the bloc. Georg Riekeles, a former adviser on the EU’s Brexit taskforce, said member states would likely take a welcoming stance but would also be firm.

He said there would be no appetite for reopening decades of British exceptionalism and that the price of re-entry would be membership on normal terms. Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Europe minister from 2014-18 and now an MEP, said negotiations would begin with standard terms.

He said the tailor-made arrangements the UK once held are gone and that any talks would cover all issues required of any candidate country.

During its 47 years of EU membership, the UK held opt-outs from the single currency and the Schengen passport-free zone, along with a budget rebate. Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said Britain should not expect a similar arrangement to its previous membership.

He said British officials needed to accept that greater benefits require pooling some aspects of sovereignty. Riekeles added that the EU would need to see a durable national consensus in the UK before engaging seriously with a re-entry application. He said the EU can work with a UK that knows what it wants but struggles with one that seeks benefits while keeping separation politics.

Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, said Brexit has been a major disaster for the UK and a loss for the EU. He said Britain has other options, such as association with the single market or participation in a proposed European security council. The European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, declined to comment on potential negotiating terms.

She said current discussions focus on closer cooperation ahead of an expected EU-UK summit in early July.