LONDON — Britain and the European Union should move past Brexit rows and “build on” the close cooperation they’ve shown over the war in Ukraine and trade terms in Northern Ireland, top EU diplomats have urged.
Writing in the Guardian to mark Europe Day, a group of diplomats led by the EU’s new ambassador to the United Kingdom, Pedro Serrano, heaped praise on the U.K.’s response to the war in Ukraine. They said the country deserved “special mention” for defending “international legality and providing determined support to Ukraine.”
“One could say that, after Brexit, the EU and the U.K. have rediscovered each other, and the strong ties that unite them, in their defense of Ukraine and of peace in Europe,” they write.
The letter comes after the U.K. and EU struck a deal — known as the Windsor Framework — to end months of bitter wrangling over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.
The group of ambassadors said the U.K. had taken a “pragmatic and constructive approach” to those talks, which had led to a “much welcome and necessary regain in trust in EU-U.K. relations.”
They added: “The task ahead is therefore to build on this reengagement.”