Poland counts on the announced reset in relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) to positively impact the UK’s ties with Poland, Andrzej Szejna, the deputy foreign minister, has told PAP.

Szejna has been visiting the annual Labour Party conference in the northern English city of Liverpool which began last Sunday and will last until Wednesday. It is the first such conference held by the Labour Party after their July victory in a national election that put them back in power after 14 years spent in opposition.

Szejna spoke of a good history of cooperation with the Labour Party, going back to Tony Blair’s time as the UK’s prime minister when the UK, along with Ireland and Sweden, opened its job market to Polish citizens immediately after Poland acceded to the EU.

The meeting discussed the issue of barriers to Polish exports, especially food, which arose after Brexit because the new British system does not recognise EU phytosanitary and veterinary standards, as well as in connection with additional fees that are imposed on products imported to the UK, which also blocks Polish producers.

„On January 1, Poland will assume the presidency of the European Union with a number of priorities, particularly regarding military, energy, cyber, information and food security,” Szejna said. „We would like to cooperate with the UK on those issues,” he said.

Yesterday, Minister Szejna took part in one of the side events of the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, where he spoke, among other things, about the Polish presidency of the EU, which starts on 1 January 2025.

He said that the priorities of the Polish presidency would be security not only in military aspects, but also cyber security, energy security, food security or the fight against disinformation – as well as EU enlargement, including Ukraine, and a reset in relations with the UK.

The new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had already declared his intention to make a reset in relations with the European Union before the 4 July elections, which brought Labour back to power. The Prime Minister underlined that changes to the Brexit agreement would be very limited, as the UK does not intend to return to the EU.

Source: PAP

Photo: @AndrzejSzejna

Tomasz Modrzejewski