// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Andy Burnham wants to get closer to the EU - but he shouldn't expect a smooth ride
Andy Burnham wants to get closer to the EU - but he shouldn't expect a smooth ride
Déjà vu? The Eurostar has been booked. Strategic leaks of draft agreements have started.
The EU's former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is warning the UK it can't have it all and it will not be able to rejoin its single market "à la carte".
Naturally, there is even a row about smoky bacon crisps – an argument between the UK and EU about food labelling has become a classic of the genre. Remember the bendy banana? Or the so-called sausage war between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron?
It's a clash between those arguing it's worth swallowing some new rules to ease trade with the continent, or those whose message to Brussels is, "hands off our snacks" - even though we are not actually in the EU anymore.
Andy Burnham's big moment with the bloc top brass is fast approaching - the second annual EU-UK Summit since the UK's withdrawal from the EU takes place in Brussels on 20 November.
That meeting is not supposed to be about whether the UK might one day go back in. The prime minister has suggested that is his long-term ambition - but is he really ready for what is to come?
First, Burnham inherited the broad deal that's likely to be signed. The UK and EU were originally meant to mint a new and, they hope, improved agreement back in May, then in July, and well, political upheavals mean one thing for getting things done – delay.
But that means the outlines of a new agreement have been clear for many months, an approach based on "closer alignment" as Sir Keir Starmer proclaimed to us at the start of the year.
So if the prime minister hails agreement, spare a thought for those who started the work to get it this far many months ago.