More than three years after the UK officially left the European Union, plans for a “four-tier Europe” have emerged.
In a move which could lay the ground for a closer British relationship with Brussels, France and Germany have tabled plans for a new “inner circle” of membership for countries willing to overhaul the bloc.
The new paper set out the European Political Community as the outer ring; then associate membership, which could include “even the UK”; then plain vanilla EU membership; and finally, an “inner core”, in which countries would give up the veto and accept majority voting for everything.
News of the proposals emerged as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer held talks in Paris with French president Emmanuel Macron, on the final leg of an international tour designed to portray him as a prime minister in waiting.
But the two parties are walking a precarious tightrope over Brexit in the run-up to the general election, expected next year, with both No 10 and Labour ruling out any form of associate membership of the EU.
Naurally the paper has generated a lot of excitement from those who voted Remain in the 2016 referendum.
However the move has also prompted a furious reaction from Brexiteers who accused EU countries of “desperation” in their bid to enlarge the bloc.
There are also a number of questions around the logistics of this lite-membership. Would countries be bound to further integration with the EU? What would the benefits of an associate membership include? How much would countries have to pay into the EU budget?
That’s not to mention the questions the paper raises for the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU. Would associate membership lead to an eventual reversal of Brexit? And how will the news of the EU’s apparent flexibility feed into the way Labour and the Conservatives approach their general election campaigns?
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