Ursula Von der Leyen has admitted she wants to “fix” Brexit, suggesting she thinks the UK will rejoin the EU and return to “old friends”.
Asked if she thinks Britain will ever rejoin the EU, the Commission President said: “First of all, thank God. With the Windsor agreement, we had a new beginning for old friends. Very important.”
Speaking to Politico, she added: “And then I must say, I keep telling my children, you have to fix it.
“We goofed it up. You have to fix it.
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“So I think here, too, the direction of travel, my personal opinion is clear.”
The UK signed the Windsor Framework agreement with the EU earlier this year as an attempt to prevent a hard border with Ireland and smoothe the flow of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The same interview saw Von der Leyen speak about the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying it is “now or never” to secure a two-state solution.
She said: “It is almost dramatic that because of the terrible events in the Middle East, the two-state solution is much more probable than it was months or years ago
“It is interesting. I’ve been speaking a lot to the Israelis, but also to [Egypt’s] el-Sisi, to the king of Jordan, I’ve had a phone call with [Mahmoud] Abbas.
“There seems to [be] slowly but surely the formation of common ideas how … this could be.”
She added: “[There] cannot be a safe haven for the terror group Hamas anymore in Gaza.
“Hamas cannot be part of the governance structure. No way.
“An independent Palestinian state has to have the Palestinian Authority governing West Bank and Gaza.”
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The UK signed the Windsor Framework agreement with the EU earlier this year
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Von der Leyen warned: “I think this is now or never to seize the moment.”
Speaking about Europe’s role in the conflict, she said: “We have never been the first fiddle in the Middle East, but we are, for example, the biggest donor for the Palestinian Authority, we’re the biggest donor to Gaza since many, many years.
“So we have leverage and we have a role to play.”
