EU rejoining: French and Germans back UK’s return a decade on

Ten years after Britons voted to leave the European Union, a new YouGov survey reveals that significant majorities in France and Germany would actually welcome the UK back into the bloc — a finding that adds fresh fuel to the slow-burning debate about Britain’s long-term relationship with Europe.

What the numbers actually show

The polling is striking. In Germany, 54% of respondents said they would support the UK rejoining the EU, with just 18% opposed. France told a similar story, with 52% in favour and roughly 20% against. That’s not a marginal result — it’s a clear signal from two of the EU’s most powerful member states that the door, at least in public opinion terms, remains open.

Still, it’s worth separating enthusiasm from expectation. Wanting something and believing it will happen are very different things.

A decade of distance — and some nostalgia

When the UK voted 52% to 48% to leave on June 23, 2016, the shockwaves rippled across the continent. Many in France and Germany genuinely didn’t believe it would happen. And then it did. Since then, the relationship has been complicated, occasionally tense, and punctuated by rows over everything from Northern Ireland to fishing rights.

But time has a way of softening edges. Both France and Germany have faced their own internal pressures — rising nationalism, economic headwinds, wars on the European continent — and some analysts suggest that nostalgia for a larger, more cohesive EU has grown quietly in both countries. The UK, whatever its flaws as a member, was a significant economic and diplomatic weight.

“Public opinion in Europe has shifted considerably since the early post-Brexit years,” said a Brussels-based EU policy analyst. “There was real anger in 2016 and 2017. That’s largely dissipated.”

Britain isn’t asking — at least not officially

Here’s the catch. No mainstream British political party is currently advocating for full EU membership. Labour under Keir Starmer has pursued a “reset” with Europe — closer ties, a defence pact, a veterinary agreement — but rejoining the single market or the customs union remains off the table, let alone full membership. The Conservatives are firmly against any rapprochement beyond the basics.

So the YouGov findings, however interesting, land in something of a political vacuum on the British side. Public opinion in the UK remains more divided, with recent polls suggesting only a slim majority now supports rejoining — a shift from the immediate post-Brexit years, but not yet a mandate.

Where does this leave things?

The ten-year anniversary is prompting reflection on all sides. And what the YouGov data does — perhaps more than anything — is challenge the narrative that Europe has closed its mind to the idea. It hasn’t. Whether Britain is ready to have that conversation seriously is another question entirely, and one that won’t be answered any time soon.