UK-EU Summit Set for July to Reset Post-Brexit Ties

The United Kingdom and European Union have scheduled their next summit for July 22 in Brussels to address post-Brexit relations. The meeting aims to reduce trade barriers and implement a youth mobility scheme allowing individuals under the age of 30 to work, travel, or study across territories.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed the date following meetings with European Council president António Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 gathering in Evian-les-Bains. Despite several delays due to deadlocks over the youth mobility program, both sides have expressed optimism about making progress during the upcoming summit.

According to multiple sources, Michel Barnier, the EU's former chief Brexit negotiator, suggests that if the UK were to rejoin the EU, it could retain special terms such as keeping the pound and remaining outside the Schengen Zone. He stated that there are other member states who are not part of these agreements, making it 'perfectly possible' for the UK to have opt-outs in these fields.

Current EU law expects all member states to use the euro as their currency, with Denmark having a permanent opt-out. Five nations that joined the EU since 2004 have not yet adopted the euro. Regarding the Schengen Zone, new member states are legally obliged to join, except for Ireland which has an official opt-out.

Barnier emphasized that the decision to rejoin would be open to negotiation and that he would be ready to provide advice if needed. He also expressed his belief that it is becoming clearer 'every day' that the UK made the wrong choice in 2016 by voting to leave the EU, citing a decade of poor growth and toxic immigration debates.

British businesses continue to grapple with the economic impacts of Brexit. Food exports to the EU have decreased by more than 23% between 2021 and 2025 compared to pre-Brexit levels. The National Bureau of Economic Research predicts that Brexit will reduce the UK's economy size by between 6% and 8%, with investment down by 18% compared to a no-Brexit scenario.

According to a recent survey conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), two-thirds of EU citizens would support Britain rejoining the bloc. The polling, carried out in May, found that 66% of respondents across 15 countries felt UK membership was a very good, good or “neither a good nor a bad” idea. Support for rejoin ranged from lows of 56% in Bulgaria and 59% in France and Italy to highs of 75% in the Netherlands and Denmark.

In the UK, the survey found that voters across party lines believed Brexit had had a negative impact on key issues such as the cost of living (66%), the economy (65%), youth opportunity (57%), illegal immigration (56%) and trade (56%). Even most leave voters (58%) said Brexit had made illegal immigration worse. Asked to identify the primary benefits of Brexit, the most common response was “don’t know”, followed closely by “none of the above.”

The report's author, Mark Leonard, suggested that the polling showed the EU is open to the UK’s return and that British public opinion has fundamentally moved on from 2016. He added that the data revealed a 'very broad permissive consensus for going far beyond the government’s current reset'.

A decade after the Brexit referendum, a majority of Britons now say leaving the European Union was a mistake, according to a recent survey by YouGov. The UK has experienced political turmoil and economic challenges since the vote, with seven prime ministers in the last 10 years struggling to deal with the fallout.

Leaving the EU has reduced British productivity, imports, and exports, according to the Office for Budgetary Responsibility. An analysis of government data shows the economy took a 6% hit as a result of Brexit. Despite these challenges, two-thirds of those who voted for Brexit still stand by their original vote.

Many supporters of Brexit argue that it was handled poorly by successive governments and politicians, rather than the move itself being to blame. Nigel Farage, one of the architects of the split, said that leaving the EU was 'absolutely the right thing to do' but criticized how it was implemented.

A key promise of the Vote Leave campaign was to take back control of borders and curb migration from the EU. However, non-EU migration to the UK spiked after Brexit due to labor shortages. Simon Boyd, a steel manufacturer who campaigned for Brexit, expressed disappointment with how things have turned out but believes rejoining the EU would be akin to getting back on the Titanic.

Public opinion has shifted significantly since 2016. Three-fifths of Gen Z Brits say they'd like a new referendum on EU membership, while over half of respondents overall told YouGov this month that they would like to see the UK rejoin the EU in some way. However, with Brexit still a divisive issue and Farage's anti-EU Reform UK party seeing success in recent elections, few politicians have indicated any will to hold another referendum.