The new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, held his first official Brexit meeting in Brussels where he met Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and Roberta Metsola, respectively presidents of the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament.
Of those three, the meeting with President von der Leyen was seen as the most important since any new negotiations would be conducted by the European Commission on behalf of the EU.
What the two sides might end up negotiating remains up in the air. Not least because the new European Commission is not expected to be fully up and running before December at the earliest.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the UK and EU said the next stage would be “defining together the areas in which strengthened cooperation would be mutually beneficial, such as the economy, energy, security and resilience.”
But President von der Leyen warned that the first priority in UK-EU relations was to make sure existing deals, including the Windsor Framework dealing with Northern Ireland, are fully in place.
“We should explore the scope for more cooperation while we focus on the full and faithful implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, the Windsor Framework and the TCA [Trade and Cooperation Agreement]”, she said.
Downing Street says that it wants to conclude deals with the EU which include a “broad-based security pact, [measures] securing our borders and tackling barriers to trade.”
Keir Starmer said he is “determined to put this relationship back on a stable, positive footing.”
The Irish government has previously welcomed the new British government’s signals that it wants to improve relations.
Ireland and the UK now have “a significant opportunity for a reset of our bilateral relationship”, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said back in July.
It is understood that British ministers will travel to Dublin, possibly as soon as Thursday, to meet their Irish counterparts.
It was also agreed today that a first EU-UK Summit should take place “ideally in early 2025.”