Top European lawmakers want Brexit Britain back in the European Union, but they will not grant the UK any special opt-outs from the bloc's rules, Metro can reveal. Following calls from Sadiq Khan and Zack Polanski for the UK to rejoin the EU, Metro gathered the views of MEPs who would hold a crucial vote on any potential re-entry.
Party leaders and spokespeople representing a majority of the European Parliament said they would enthusiastically welcome a 'Breturn' to the EU. However, senior lawmakers insisted they would not allow Britain to 'cherry-pick' which rules to follow as a new member, unlike the previous arrangement. This could force the UK to adopt the euro and join the Schengen free-movement area if it applied to rejoin.
Cross-Party Support for UK Return
Leading figures from four of the seven political blocs in the European Parliament—representing more than two-thirds of the 720 sitting MEPs—told Metro they wanted the UK back in Brussels. Iratxe García, president of the centre-left S&D grouping, said they 'always believed' Brexit was a mistake and that the UK 'belongs' in the EU. The co-president of the Greens bloc said Britons 'should absolutely rejoin the EU' and that their door was 'always open'. Sean Kelly, the lead UK spokesperson in the largest grouping, the EPP, said he 'would welcome' the UK back—a sentiment shared by the centrist Renew group. David McAllister, a German MEP who chairs the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and UK contact group, called Brexit a 'historical regret which I deeply regret'. Even hardline Eurosceptic politicians, such as Irmhild Bossdorf from the far-right Europe for Sovereign Nations group, told Metro they wanted the alliance to expand if British voters desired it.
No Special Deals for Britain
Any attempt to rejoin the EU would likely spark a huge debate about what rules the UK would have to accept. Previously, Britain had used its status to carve crucial opt-outs on the single currency and the Schengen open-borders area. But those exceptions do not apply to new applicants, and EU rules dictate that all members must adopt the euro except Denmark. Top MEPs and party leaders in Brussels overwhelmingly made clear they were in no mood to cut the UK any special deals. Sandro Gozi, who chairs the EU delegation to the EU-UK Partnership Assembly, said: 'There can be no tailor-made conditions based on nostalgia for the past. Any future accession must take place in accordance with the Union's rules.' Terry Reintke, co-president of the Greens bloc, told Metro: 'There can be no cherry-picking. The integrity of the Union and its common rules must be upheld.' Two Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, Victor Negrescu from the S&D bloc and Martin Hojsík from Renew, agreed that 'any potential return would naturally need to be based on principles and conditions that apply to all member states'. Mr Hojsík insisted: 'There should be no special arrangements or exceptions.' The EPP's vice-chair Jeroen Lenaers and UK spokesperson Sean Kelly agreed that all requirements for EU membership needed to be met by the UK.
Rejoining on Today's Terms
Rihards Kols, a Latvian MEP from the right-wing ECR group, suggested that returning to pre-Brexit rules straight away was 'wishful thinking'. He added: 'If the UK returns, it returns to the Union that exists today—with the same accession rules that apply to every candidate country.' The Green Party, whose leader Zack Polanski has declared support for rejoining the EU, agreed that 'the UK cannot expect to cherry-pick the rules' if it applies as a new member. The party added: 'Nigel Farage and his Brexit cronies blew the favourable concessions we had, and they have nothing positive at all to show for their disastrous experiment.' Their statement continued: 'With public support for rejoining now stronger than ever and many EU politicians keen to see the UK return, the political circumstances are definitely more favourable than at any point since our exit ten years ago.'
Minority Willing to Offer Flexibility
Only 10 of the more than 70 MEPs who shared their views with Metro suggested they would be willing to cut the UK some slack. Greek MEP Nikos Papandreou said he was against 'the idea that Great Britain needs to be punished because of the referendum'. Irish representative Barry Andrews, chair of the EU Development Committee, agreed that letting the UK back in on pre-Brexit terms would be a 'win-win for both sides'. Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister and arch-Remainer, said: 'We should never have left the EU. It was a serious act of self-harm. We should rejoin at the earliest possible moment and take our place in one of the world's most powerful political powers.'
EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola remains focused on existing UK-EU relations. She told Metro: 'What we want to see is a strong EU-UK partnership that looks to the future and avoids resurrecting the ghosts of the past—this is the right moment to move forward and I am convinced that we can do that in a manner that respects the choice of the British people.' A spokesperson for the EU Commission said: 'The UK is our close and valued partner. The UK has chosen to leave the European Union. It was their sovereign decision. Any decision to rejoin the Union rests solely with the UK.' The Cabinet Office was approached for comment.
