UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who visited London on Thursday. Downing Street said in a statement that the two leaders agreed that progress had been made in negotiations to strengthen bilateral relations.
They discussed a number of important issues, including the crisis in Ukraine, energy security, the global economy and defense cooperation. They instructed their negotiating teams to continue their work to deliver the most ambitious package possible at the first UK-EU summit next month. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s negotiator for relations with the EU, told The Guardian newspaper that the new deal would take an approach that “transcends past debates and disagreements”. However, Thomas-Symonds made it clear that the country would not return to the European Union’s common market, customs union or free movement. She underlined that any new deal must respect the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202504/25/WS680add06a3104d9fd3821748.html
