Macron Welcomes Suggestion That UK Could Rejoin the EU

French President Emmanuel Macron responded warmly on Wednesday to a suggestion from British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that the United Kingdom could one day rejoin the European Union, telling reporters in English: "Welcome back."

Speaking alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a news conference in Madrid, Macron said that if British voters and their government were moving toward rejoining the bloc, it would be good news both for the UK and for the rest of Europe.

"If the British want to come back and if the prime minister is moving in that direction, I think that is very good news, both for his country and for the Europeans," Macron said, speaking mostly in French before switching briefly to English for his initial remark.

The comments followed remarks by Burnham raising the possibility that a future government could put EU membership back on the table, nearly a decade after the UK voted to leave the bloc in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Any move to rejoin would require renegotiating the terms of membership from outside the EU's single market and customs union, a process that would likely take years and require broad domestic political consensus in Britain.

No formal UK policy shift toward EU membership has been confirmed, and any referendum on the question would mark a significant reversal of the post-Brexit consensus that has largely held across Britain's major political parties. Macron's remarks nonetheless signal continued openness in Paris to closer ties with London, following years of strained UK-EU relations over trade, fishing rights and Northern Ireland's status.