Britain, EU eye closer ties

LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Thursday, with both agreeing that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations to strengthen bilateral ties, according to Downing Street.

A readout released by Downing Street said that the two leaders discussed a range of key issues, including the crisis in Ukraine, energy security, global economy, and defense cooperation.

Both leaders have instructed their teams to continue working in the coming weeks to deliver "as ambitious a package as possible" at the first UK-EU summit scheduled for next month.

In an article published by The Guardian, Britain's EU negotiator Nick Thomas-Symonds has said UK's new deal with the EU will be a break from "debates and arguments of the past".

But he also made clear that there would be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement. Any new deal with the EU, he stressed, must respect the result of the 2016 referendum.