Britain is willing to discuss paying towards infrastructure schemes in poorer parts of the EU in return for access to the European electricity market, according to the minister in charge of renegotiating the bilateral relationship.
Hamish Falconer, the cabinet minister in charge of EU talks, told the Guardian he was sure the two sides would discuss the issue after this month’s summit, as ministers look to deepen ties with the union over the next few years.
Andy Burnham, the prime minister, has said he wants a much closer relationship with the EU in the future, even raising the possibility of rejoining as a full member. But while senior figures in Brussels have said they are keen to discuss such an idea, they also want to see the UK begin to start paying for access to the European schemes it says it wants.
This weekend five European leaders welcomed the UK’s desire to join the European electricity market, but said Britain would have to pay into a so-called “cohesion fund” in order to do so.
While UK officials say they do not accept the link between the electricity reforms and cohesion fund, the minister admitted the UK would enter into talks about additional contributions.
“We have not accepted that principle,” Falconer said. “I understand that that’s what the European Union have asked for, but the UK government hasn’t accepted. Again, this is something no doubt we will discuss,” Falconer said.
Falconer has said he hopes next week’s keenly anticipated EU-UK summit “will go some real distance in undoing some of the harm that Brexit has done”. Negotiators hope to sign deals on food and drink, carbon emissions and youth mobility.
Any move to bring Britain into the EU electricity market, however, is likely to prove controversial. The EU cohesion fund promotes economic development in poorer regions in the bloc and UK officials will be cautious about any deal in which British taxpayers’ money could be spent on infrastructure projects in central and eastern Europe.
Falconer was, however, clear that the UK would be keen to join a future EU defence fund. Last year, negotiations on Britain’s entry into the EU’s €150bn (£125bn) defence fund collapsed after a dispute over the UK’s contribution.
The UK had been seeking to join the first round of the EU’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) fund, a low-interest loan scheme that is part of the EU’s push to grow defence spending by €800bn.
EU officials suggested an entry fee of up to €6bn, significantly higher than the administrative fee the government had anticipated, and talks collapsed. “I think it’s a real shame that the UK was not part of that scheme,” Falconer said on Monday.
“The terms on which we were asked to join were clearly not terms that we could agree and I think that’s a shame – and I think lots of our friends in the EU think it was a shame … so I hope there is an opportunity for a Safe2 and one in which the UK could join on reasonable terms.”
Falconer also said he hoped negotiators would agree a youth mobility scheme ready for the 20 November summit, though there have been crucial sticking points over demands for home tuition fees for EU students at UK universities.
The Guardian reported last week that the UK was prepared to spend up to £450m a year to give EU students discounted university tuition fees, if Brussels allowed Britain access to the Made in Europe industrial programme.
“Obviously I understand that there are a number of member states who would like to see it made easier for EU students to come to the UK and have lower fees than they currently pay if they want to go to British universities,” Falconer said on Monday.
“But that is outside of the common understanding so it will require a different set of arrangements than were envisaged when these negotiations started. Clearly it’s something that on the EU side there’s real interest, so we are engaging in that discussion but I can’t comment in detail on the negotiations.”
Falconer was firmly positive about the UK’s return next year to the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme, which the UK left under Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in 2020, and will be open not just to universities but also to schools and colleges.
“I hope around the start of the summit we will be opening applications for British young people to put themselves right in the heart of Europe,” he said, rejecting Nigel Farage’s criticisms of Erasmus and the youth mobility scheme as opening the door to uncontrolled immigration.
“People understand that it is a good thing for our young people to be able to travel widely in Europe, to be able to study, to have the kind of exchanges that make such a big difference to people’s lives.
“I think honestly Nigel Farage is being a big old grinch about this. This is in the interests of our young people and he should give his head a bit of a wobble, I think.”
