Political Observer(AKA StephenKMackSD)

Mujtaba Rahman, Eurasia Group hireling, carefully chides The European Commission in the forth paragraph of his essay, as if ?

The European Commission’s “list of demands” that Sir Keir Starmer must address to improve the UK-EU bilateral relationship shows how much the bloc needs to rethink its approach to Britain and Brexit.

The Labour government has already done so. The European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace in July provided the perfect platform for Starmer to advance phase 1 of his EU “reset” — restoring trust after the antagonistic relationship with the Conservative government. Phase 2 involves scoping out policy areas of common interest and phase 3, hammering them out. 

Senior Labour officials hope that a deal on a security pact, given the UK’s heft on defence and intelligence, will provide a big opening offer that allows the EU to respond by reducing trade barriers. 

Editor: here is that forth paragraph: Mujtaba Rahman chiding turns into a scold! Is this The Economist?

In public, the EU welcomes Starmer’s constructive approach. There is appetite to co-operate on security and defence. Yet in private many senior EU officials remain stuck in 2016, emphasising the third-country status of the UK and the EU’s opposition to cherry picking and to mixing security and trade. This suggests an unwillingness to seize the opportunities of a Starmer-led Britain.

Editor: The Financial Times chooses its guest writers with care, and manicures their commentaries to fit the FT politics of the moment! My comment reflects reality not cynicism! For brevity’s sake I’ll just quote the topic sentences of the remaining 674 words: that seeks, like the well paid Technocrat like Mujtaba Rahman, to influence via Think Tank Propaganda actual Policy! In the long dead Age Of Print this chatter would have found it’s destiny in lining bird cages!

Today’s context is different.

This should create more political space for creative thinking

Things Labour is ready to consider include a visa scheme for EU nationals aged 18 to 30 — an early priority for Brussels.

These concessions should address the deep-seated reservations of France, one of the tougher member states, by showing that a Labour government is willing to give up some sovereignty to get closer to the EU.

While Starmer will not accept all of the elements of the single market, such as free movement of labour, he will accept some.

The geopolitical context also points to the need for more European ambition.

More security and defence collaboration between the EU and UK, including over defence industrial policy, makes perfect sense. 

Poland and the Baltic and Nordic states, which see the existential threat to liberal democracy of the military crisis on Europe’s eastern border, need to help make this bigger case.  

No one in Europe is keen on a formal renegotiation:

Starmer and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should prepare an ambitious political declaration for their first summit in the coming weeks.

Political Observer