Starmer and Scholz announce a new bilateral treaty to leave the Brexit era behind | International

During the difficult years of Brexit, Germany always held on to the hold of British governments to prevent the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union from being fully strengthened. Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first to send a clear signal to London about her desire to start a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries, and her successor, Olaf Scholz, welcomed the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, in Berlin this Wednesday as the prodigal son who can now be entertained. “We want to intensify our relations, and this will not remain mere statements, but will be the beginning of a completely new path,” Scholz announced at a joint press conference. “In the coming months, we are going to work on a (bilateral) treaty that will cover the entire scope of those relations. There has never been a treaty like this between the United Kingdom and Germany,” the chancellor wanted to highlight.

Starmer has been prime minister for nearly two months, and his main foreign policy efforts have focused on building goodwill on both sides of the English Channel. He already began the first signs of rapprochement with the rest of European leaders at Blenheim Palace on July 18, when the United Kingdom hosted the fourth summit of the European Political Community.

He has met Chancellor Scholz on five occasions, including this visit. There is good rapport between the two leaders, who are from the same Social Democratic political family, which favours Starmer’s reconciliation objective. “The new treaty between the United Kingdom and Germany represents an opportunity that only comes once in a generation, an opportunity to benefit the British and German working classes, a testament to the scope and depth of our relationship,” the prime minister declared. With somewhat exaggerated rhetoric and very few concrete details, Starmer promises that the new agreement will cover areas such as science, technology, development, culture, trade and people and will be ready later this year.

But, at the same time, British leaders repeat whenever they are asked that the United Kingdom has turned the page on Brexit. They say there is no appetite to return to the community club, nor to rejoin its internal market or its common customs area. On London’s part, there is also no willingness to study the recovery of the youth mobility plan, which would allow the exchange of people between the island and the continent to recover, with limited study or employment permits for people under 30 years of age, as they pursue several EU countries.

Less Contact

Chancellor Scholz reiterated this request to his counterpart during a joint appearance: “Contacts between Germans and the British have declined considerably after Brexit and the pandemic. We want to change that,” he said.

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The German leader has also defined the United Kingdom as an “indispensable partner”, but refrained from expressing the view that the bilateralism observed during the visit was a way of avoiding the essential relationship between London and Brussels. “With the Withdrawal Agreement, the Ireland Protocol, the Windsor Framework Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the four international treaties that seal Brexit) we have a reliable legal framework that we need to fully develop,” Scholz said.

Starmer knows that there is little desire in community capitals to reopen treaties whose conclusion cost blood, sweat and tears. The new Labour government is balking at the possibility of improving technical aspects of the trade agreement with the EU when its review period is scheduled for 2025, but Brussels has already made it clear that this window was planned to improve or refine what has already been agreed. It has been agreed not to renegotiate its content.

Defence Cooperation

Starmer’s trip, which includes Berlin and Paris, is another step in rebuilding the relationship to which the British prime minister has committed. “This is a chance for the first time in a generation to restart our relationship with Europe. We must turn the page on Brexit and repair the broken relationships left by the previous (British) government,” he promised.

The Labour Party’s strategy of building bridges with the EU, which would allow the latter to aspire to economic or commercial reform, was formulated even before its election victory on 4 July. Starmer’s team is convinced that close cooperation between London and the rest of EU governments on defence would be the fastest route to normalising relations. Starmer and Scholz have expressed their full agreement regarding support for Ukraine, in defence of Israel’s right to defend itself within the framework of international legitimacy, or on the need to promote a future Palestinian state.

The two leaders have announced joint work on a new bilateral agreement on defense, negotiated in parallel with the treaty announced this Wednesday.

The British prime minister knew, as did his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak, that he needed to unite European countries and the EU to confront a challenge they all share, including the United Kingdom: irregular immigration. Starmer and Scholz have agreed to develop a joint plan to share intelligence and resources on the matter.

The chancellor, under heavy pressure from the opposition to toughen immigration laws after last Friday’s attack that killed three people at the hands of a Syrian refugee, took advantage of a joint press conference to announce that she would sit down with the leader of the CDU to study new measures. “We will not behave as if nothing happened; we will draw the lessons that are necessary,” he said. Scholz recalled that irregular entries had fallen by 20% in recent months since border controls were introduced, but he acknowledged that this was not enough.

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