“The big message is that the EU and the U.K. are finding each other amidst global turmoil,” an EU diplomat said.
That turmoil doesn’t only include the escalating bloodshed and uncertainty in the Middle East and, in Ukraine, a war so close to home it would have been unthinkable the last time a British finance minister attended a meeting of their European counterparts shortly before the U.K. left the EU in January 2020. The EU itself has scarcely felt so fragile, with the French government last week toppled by far-right and left lawmakers and an enfeebled German chancellor forced into a snap election he’ll likely lose.
For now, none of that has translated into fright in financial markets and the Eurogroup ― the powerful gathering of eurozone finance ministers that would be on the front line of any effort to stamp out potential contagion ― are happy for the opportunity to avert their gaze when Reeves arrives for the 3 p.m. discussion.
Governments are determined not to discuss France at the meeting, officials said ― for one thing, that might tempt the markets to panic. Who’d have thought, amid the pre-Covid tumult of the U.K.’s acrimonious divorce from the EU, that by 2024 talking to the Brits would provide welcome respite?
More in common?
Reeves’ appearance in Brussels is part of the Labour government’s push for a “reset” in relations with the EU. Prime Minister Keir Starmer already made a trip across the Channel in October, and will be back for a summit in February.
It comes after EU-U.K. relations soured dramatically once Britain left the bloc, particularly under the governments of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.