World News: Is Brexit Becoming Brex-Reenter

Details: Category: Haute This Issue; Published on Wednesday, 17 December 2025 11:23; Written by Olivier Longhi

The United Kingdom's return to the Erasmus+ student exchange programme heralds the possibility of rejoining with the European Union and hoping to break London's diplomatic and economic isolation while recognizing the failure of the populist experiment.

The return of the United Kingdom to the Erasmus + student exchange programme foreshadows an ever closer rapprochement of Albion with the European Union, breaking London's diplomatic and economic isolation while recognising the failure of the anti-elitist experiment, which was the driving force behind Brexit.

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At first glance, this is nothing extraordinary. In any case, nothing that could upset the hierarchy of daily, or even weekly, information. However, the fact that the United Kingdom is preparing to rejoin the European Erasmus + programme at the beginning of 2027 is a sign of a significant change in Albion in terms of what the European Union is likely to bring to it.

Let's quickly summarize the reasons that led the United Kingdom to leave the student exchange program. In 2016, the United Kingdom voted by a majority to leave the European Union. Brexit is therefore accompanied, and also, by the interruption of educational programs such as Erasmus which allowed many students to continue their studies across the Channel, or vice versa on the continent in Paris, Berlin, Rome or Brussels.

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Improvement

Enriching in many ways, this programme was so successful that the cities of Bath, Edinburgh and others were regularly called upon to welcome students in search of language improvement, new teaching, new methods and other knowledge that could improve their careers.

But the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union cut short the student impulses, sacrificed on the altar of the populism of Nigel Farrage, Boris Johnson and Theresa May. Almost ten years later, the United Kingdom wakes up with a hangover, as if after swallowing a bad pint of beer, and turns to the European Union again with the hope not of re-entering it.

Although, but with the desire to establish relations close enough to get as close as possible to a situation more or less equal to full adherence. So why such a turnaround? Because Brexit, praised by its supporters as the victory of newfound freedom in the face of a castrating Europe, has in fact cost more than it has really brought in.

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Former Partners

Isolated on a European scale, snubbed, even despised by Donald Trump's United States, which sees it as a simple economic partner, and now almost inaccessible for business leaders or students who are nevertheless seduced by the possibilities offered by the United Kingdom, Albion began by returning to its former partners, understanding a decade later that Brexit was a mistake.

Without openly acknowledging it, Keir Starmer's Labour government has opened the door to a form of normalization that will probably lead to others, especially in view of the current international situation. Moreover, the combined efforts of the United Kingdom, Germany and France as part of the peace plan to be drawn up to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are further proof of this.

But this potential return of the United Kingdom to the fold of the European Union would also tend to prove how populist policies and speeches, the same ones that pushed the United Kingdom out of the European Union, once put into practice, collide with reality to prove to be inert, empty and incapable of drawing a convincing future.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.