Britain’s next prime minister will be asked within weeks to join a pan-European community being championed by France as a way to bind countries more closely into the EU fold, The National has been told.
The eagerness to include the UK, despite British reservations and only two years after it severed ties with the EU, risks putting Britain’s next leader on a collision course with Paris and Brussels once they take office next month.
Liz Truss, the front-runner to win the Conservative leadership race, has made clear her lack of enthusiasm for the so-called European Political Community, a new forum for dialogue pursued by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Her rival Rishi Sunak, an early supporter of Brexit, has promised to further loosen regulatory ties with the EU if he succeeds Boris Johnson as prime minister on September 3.
Nonetheless, EU officials have not given up on persuading Britain to attend an inaugural meeting of the looser Political Community, pencilled in for Prague in early October.
The summit will “definitely have a broader scope beyond the EU member states”, said Lenka Do, a diplomatic official in the Czech government, which holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency.
“The UK belongs among the closest friends and partners of the EU and as Czechia we count on its participation.”
Details of the Political Community — nicknamed “EU lite” — are still being thrashed out by diplomats, but the expectation in Brussels is that it would involve regular meetings between presidents and prime ministers of the group.
Mr Macron proposed the idea in May as a way to bring countries in the EU waiting room, such as Ukraine, into the European fold even if they do not yet meet the strict criteria to become a full member of the bloc.
It came as the war in Ukraine focused minds on speeding up the accession process for countries such as Moldova, Georgia, North Macedonia and Albania, amid concerns that the long wait could send them drifting into Russia’s camp.
One EU official said the club could include “all European countries with whom we have close relations”, and Mr Macron made clear that Britain was invited, despite its often fractious relations with the EU since it voted for Brexit.
He pitched the idea in person to Mr Johnson on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany, where the two men sought to bury the hatchet after years of Anglo-French tension over Brexit, migration and defence.
But his claim to have piqued Mr Johnson’s interest was swiftly downplayed by the British side. Ms Truss, the foreign secretary, said Britain saw the G7 and Nato as its key alliances and did not buy into Mr Macron’s wider community.
She told a parliamentary committee in June that Britain already had “plentiful and positive relationships” with its European partners, especially through the deeper bilateral ties it has pursued since leaving the EU.
Mr Sunak, who has emphasised his pro-Brexit credentials during his leadership bid, has promised to tear up surviving EU regulations and take Mr Macron to task over human trafficking in the English Channel.
The Sunak campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the Political Community.
Mr Macron’s proposal is being taken forward by the Czech presidency, which took over from France at the helm of the EU last month, and by European Council President Charles Michel.
Czech officials envisage a Political Community summit taking place while the EU’s 27 members are already at Prague Castle for a meeting in October.
Some of the potential members besides Britain reacted cautiously to the idea, saying it should not be used as a cover to kick their full EU membership into the long grass.
“We reject any attempt to find an alternative that no one needs, or to find something else for Ukraine. We need to be like you,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told members of the European Council in May.
Acknowledging those concerns, EU leaders agreed at their most recent summit in June that any new community “will not replace existing EU policies and instruments, notably enlargement”.
Even so, membership in any such group would be hard to stomach for some “Eurosceptic” MPs in Britain after their long battle to leave the EU.
A common complaint of Brexiteers was that the UK signed up to a looser trading bloc in the 1970s and watched it morph over the decades into something resembling a European government that they no longer supported.
The opposition Labour Party is reluctant to reignite the bitter Brexit wars, and Mr Macron's idea has attracted only a modest level of interest on the left.
One enthusiast, Roger Liddle, a special adviser to former prime minister Tony Blair, said it was an opportunity for the UK to work with Europe without having to rejoin the EU and would involve “no loss of sovereignty” on Britain's part.
Although Mr Macron's suggestion gained momentum against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, he was not the first to float such an idea.
Former Italian premier Enrico Letta spoke in 2015 of a “two-speed Europe” with an inner and outer circle, and even Mr Johnson has made typically attention-grabbing references to re-establishing a “Mare Nostrum”, a Roman sphere of influence in ancient times.
Conservatives on the campaign trail — in pictures
-
Candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss at the Conservative Party leadership election hustings at Wembley Arena, London. This was the final hustings attended by Tory Party members who will vote for the new leader and next prime minister. EPA -
Liz Truss addresses Conservative Party members at Wembley Arena. AP -
Mr Sunak puts forward his case to be leader while speaking at Wembley Arena. Bloomberg -
Mr Sunak visits his family's old business, Bassett Pharmacy in Southampton, while on the campaign trail. Reuters -
Ms Truss speaks to staff at Condimentum Ltd at the Food Enterprise Park in Norwich. Getty Images -
A Rishi Sunak supporter at a hustings event in Norfolk. PA -
Mr Sunak greets people at a leadership hustings in Manchester. Bloomberg -
Ms Truss poses for a selfie with a supporter as she arrives for the event in Manchester. Getty -
Rishi Sunak looks through the sights of an anti-tank missile launcher, supplied to Ukraine, during a visit to the Thales Defence System plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland. AP -
Liz Truss at a Conservative Party leadership campaign event in Belfast. Getty -
Liz Truss meets supporters before a hustings in Perth, Scotland. Getty -
Rishi Sunak speaks during a campaign visit to Cluny Castle in Inverurie, Scotland. Getty -
Police hold back protesters outside Perth Concert Hall, Scotland, where Conservative leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were speaking. PA -
A mural showing the two leadership contestants appears on a wall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. AP -
Rishi Sunak during a visit to St John's Wood Synagogue, north London. PA -
Liz Truss at the Conservative Party leadership election hustings in Cheltenham. EPA -
Rishi Sunak during a hustings event in Cheltenham. Reuters -
Liz Truss speaks to scientists during a campaign visit to a life sciences laboratory at Alderley Park in Manchester. PA -
Rishi Sunak during a campaign hustings in Darlington, England. Bloomberg -
Liz Truss meets party members before she speaks at the Darlington campaign hustings. Getty -
Rishi Sunak arrives for the Darlington hustings. Getty -
Liz Truss plays pool during a visit to the Onside Future Youth Zone in London. Reuters -
Rishi Sunak looks at a book with Teddy Openshaw, 4, as his father, Henry, looks on after a Conservative leadership campaign event in Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. Getty -
Liz Truss plays table tennis with former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith during a visit to the Onside Future Youth Zone in London. Reuters -
Liz Truss with supporters at a campaign event in Solihull, England. Reuters -
Rishi Sunak attends a campaign event held by his party in Bexhill, England. Reuters -
A protester is removed as Ms Truss speaks during the Conservative Party leadership hustings in Eastbourne. Bloomberg -
Mr Sunak speaks at an event in Edinburgh. PA -
Ms Truss leaves the hall in Exeter, south-west England, after her speech to a Conservative Party membership hustings. Getty -
Mr Sunak speaks at the University of Exeter in south-west England. AP -
A supporter of Ms Truss at a Conservative Party hustings in Exeter, south-west England. Getty -
Ms Truss at a hustings event at the Pavilion conference centre at Elland Road in Leeds. PA -
Mr Sunak in Salisbury watching a screening of the Uefa Women's Euro 2022 final between England and Germany at Wembley stadium. England won 2-1 in extra time. PA -
Ms Truss before the Uefa Women's Euro 2022 final at Wembley stadium in London. AFP -
Mr Sunak meets Tory members at Fontwell Park Racecourse. Reuters -
Ms Truss at an event in Dereham, Norfolk. AFP -
Mr Sunak in Ropley, near Winchester, Hampshire. PA -
Ms Truss speaks as Conservative Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat looks on at a Conservative Party leadership campaign event at Biggin Hill Airport. Getty -
Ms Truss on the campaign trail in Woodford Green, on the outskirts of London. Reuters -
Mr Sunak at a Conservative Party hustings event in Leeds. AFP -
Ms Truss speaks at the hustings event in Leeds. AFP -
Sunak and Truss-themed souvenirs at a stand during the Leeds hustings event. Reuters -
Ms Truss, and her mother, Patricia, arrive for the hustings event. Getty -
Ms Truss poses with supporters in Morley, England. Getty -
Mr Sunak delivers a speech during a campaign event in Newmarket. AFP -
Ms Truss and Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, during a visit to a broadband interchange company in Leeds. PA -
Mr Sunak answers questions as he takes part in the hustings in Leeds. AFP -
Ms Truss speaks at an event at a private house with members of the Conservative Party in Woodford Green. PA -
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak pose for a picture before a BBC leadership debate at Victoria Hall in Hanley. Getty -
Ms Truss addresses Mr Sunak during the televised debate. Getty -
Mr Sunak, with daughters Krishna and Anushka, and wife Akshata Murthy, during a visit to Vaculug tyre specialists at Gonerby Hill Foot, Grantham. PA -
Ms Truss speaks to people while campaigning in Marden. Getty -
Ms Truss celebrates after being named, along with Mr Sunak, one of the final two candidates in the race to become the UK's next prime minister. PA -
Mr Sunak outside his campaign office in central London. EPA -
Ms Truss outside Downing Street in London. Reuters -
Rishi Sunak meets Conservative Party members and activists, in Teesport, Redcar. Reuters -
Conservative leadership candidates Mr Sunak, Ms Truss, Kemi Badenoch, presenter Julie Etchingham, Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt during 'Britain's Next Prime Minister: The ITV Debate' in London. EPA -
Ms Badenoch arrives at Here East studios in Stratford, east London, before a live television debate. PA -
Mr Sunak arrives at a London event to launch his campaign to be the next Conservative Party leader and UK prime minister. Reuters -
Mr Tugendhat appears on the BBC One current affairs programme, 'Sunday Morning'. PA -
Ms Badenoch, Ms Mordaunt, Mr Sunak, Ms Truss and Mr Tugendhat before the live television debate. PA -
Ms Mordaunt arrives for the launch of her Conservative leadership campaign at the Cinnamon Club in Westminster. PA -
Ms Truss speaks at the launch event for her campaign to become the next leader of the Tory Party and Britain's prime minister, in London. EPA -
Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi, one of the candidates who has been knocked out of the race, giving a speech at the Churchill War Rooms. PA -
Former leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, 'Sunday Morning'. PA -
Sajid Javid attending the launch of his campaign to be Conservative Party leader and prime minister, at the Cinnamon Club in London. He has since been knocked out of the contest. PA -
Rehman Chishti is interviewed after announcing his bid to become the next prime minister. Mr Chishti is no longer in the race. Getty -
Mr Tugendhat speaking at the launch of his campaign. PA -
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith arrive for the Truss campaign launch event. Getty -
Former leadership candidate Attorney General Suella Braverman at the Churchill War Rooms in central London. PA -
Supporters of Mr Sunak wait for his arrival ahead of the campaign launch. Bloomberg -
Mr Tugendhat makes a speech at the launch of his campaign. PA -
Mr Javid mops his brow while launching his campaign. Getty -
Ms Truss leaves for work after her announcement that she would be running for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Getty
