BRUSSELS: Two EU chiefs on Monday congratulated Rishi Sunak on becoming Britain’s next prime minister – while stressing that “stability” was needed for Brussels and London to face shared challenges.
“Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on becoming the UK’s prime minister,” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.
“Working together is the only way to face common challenges… and bringing stability is key to overcoming them,” he said.
The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said the EU legislature was committed to having “a strong and constructive relationship with the UK”.
“At a time of enormous challenges, Europe needs political and economic stability. Our core interests remain the same,” she said.
The pointed use of the word “stability” by both highlights EU hopes that Sunak would take a more conciliatory stance towards Brussels than his predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Indian-origin Rishi Sunak to become Britain’s new prime minister
Those two both sought to unilaterally override the part of the Brexit agreement that left the UK territory of Northern Ireland under EU rules for goods, risking confrontation with Brussels.
It was not yet known if Sunak would pursue that course or seek a negotiated agreement on the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol in the Brexit treaty on terms acceptable to the EU.
The protocol – negotiated under Johnson then repudiated by him – was designed to preserve peace in Northern Ireland as set out in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of conflict and which has the backing of the United States.
London’s efforts to tear up the protocol has been a point of friction in EU-UK ties that has spilled over into other areas, notably the European Union’s refusal to allow British researchers into its prestigious and deep-pocketed Horizon Europe fund for science.
Sunak, who was finance minister under Johnson before resigning in a cabinet mutiny, was selected by Britain’s ruling Conservative party to be its new leader, after Truss’s premiership imploded after just 45 days.
He was to formally become Britain’s third prime minister in as many months once confirmed by King Charles III.
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