The 69-year-old former Labor leader had firmly opposed Brexit, notably campaigning in Northern Ireland to warn of the consequences of leaving the EU on peace in the province.
A return of the United Kingdom to the European Union, from which it left after the Brexit referendum of 2016, is not an option for many years, estimated the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“The question of whether and how the United Kingdom returns to the EU belongs to a future generation. I think that is the reality,” Tony Blair said on Saturday in an interview with AFP and agencies. European press Ansa, DPA and Efe, from the offices of its Institute for Global Change in central London.
The 69-year-old former Labor leader had strongly opposed Brexit, notably campaigning in Northern Ireland to prevent the consequences of leaving the EU on peace in the province, shaken by three decades of violence until to the peace agreement signed in April 1998, nearly 25 years ago.
The institutions of the province have been paralyzed for a year, facing the boycott of the unionist party DUP, which opposes the post-Brexit provisions in Northern Ireland.
“A lot of things we can do together”
“I think the debate in the UK right now is more about how much we want to rebuild a strong relationship with Europe, what I think we should be doing, and I hope Labor thinks so too.” , he estimated.
Before adding: “I think there are a lot of things we can do together.”
According to him, the United Kingdom and the EU have many subjects to deal with in common, such as energy and the climate, research or even defense and security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
‘I think it’s very important to try to cooperate on technology,’ he adds, ‘because otherwise Europe, of which the UK is a part, is going to be crushed between the two tech giants what are the United States and China, and perhaps even by a third, India”.
Ambivalence
“The immediate task is to solve the problems of Brexit, because the damage is obvious”, also insists Tony Blair, evoking the disappointment of the British in the face of economic difficulties, illegal immigration or even the problems of the public health system, which the “Brexiters” had promised to resolve thanks to Brexit.
After tensions between the EU and the UK under Boris Johnson, holding a hard line on Brexit, then after the ephemeral Prime Minister Liz Truss, the current tenant of Downing Street Rishi Sunak seems to want a more appeased with the EU.
He recently concluded an agreement with Brussels to adjust post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland, as well as a new agreement with France to combat illegal immigration.
The Labor opposition, well ahead in the polls less than two years from the next general elections, does not question the exit from the EU, its leader Keir Starmer promising to “make Brexit work” if he succeeds in the power.
“I think there is ambivalence among a lot of people in the UK about Brexit. Although I think people see the problems (brought about by Brexit), they don’t want to go back to the divisions created by this debate”, explains Tony Blair. “So I fully understand Labour’s position,” he concluded.
