Stanley Johnson: Labour must ‘follow Ukraine back into Europe’s green network’

Former Conservative MEP says Kyiv’s wartime admission to the European Environment Agency exposes the UK’s post-Brexit absence from a body it helped create

Ukraine’s entry into Europe’s main environmental data network during wartime has made the UK’s continued absence harder to defend, Stanley Johnson has warned.

The former Conservative MEP and conservationist said Kyiv’s admission to the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its Eionet network should force ministers to look again at why the UK remains outside a body it helped create.

Ukraine has been welcomed as a cooperating country while it records and repairs damage caused by Russia’s invasion, including harm to land, water systems, air quality, wildlife and protected areas.

The EEA said the destruction of livelihoods and the natural environment were inseparable consequences of the war, with Ukraine’s environmental recovery now treated as a shared European concern.

Johnson, The European’s Editor-at-Large, said Ukraine’s move exposed the awkwardness of the UK’s position after Brexit.

The UK, which left the EEA and Eionet after leaving the European Union, could have remained involved as a non-EU country, as Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye have done, he said.

He said restoring the UK’s membership, either as a full member or as a cooperating country like Ukraine, would give Sir Keir Starmer “a splendid chance to rebuild a bridge between the UK and Europe” on an issue where cooperation is already pan-European.

Johnson was involved in the creation of the EEA and Eionet in the 1980s, first as an MEP and later as an environmental official in the European Commission.

Speaking today, he said: “Rejoining the European Environment Agency would be a practical and sensible step towards rebuilding cooperation with our European neighbours.

“The EEA is a pan-European environmental network dealing with issues that do not stop at borders, including air and water pollution, chemicals, waste, climate change and nature protection. The UK helped to create that network and should once again be part of it.

“Ukraine’s admission to the EEA and Eionet makes the UK’s continued absence harder to explain.

“If a country at war can deepen its environmental cooperation with Europe, there is every reason for the United Kingdom to return to a body it should never have left.”

Ukraine becomes the eighth EEA cooperating country, joining Moldova and the Western Balkan partners Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The EEA’s 32 member countries include the 27 EU member states, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye.

READ MORE: Ukraine joins European environment network in major conservation step after war damage to land and wildlife. European Environment Agency says new status will help Kyiv improve monitoring, data and environmental protection as Russia’s invasion damages land, water, air quality and protected areas.

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_{Main image: Credit: TDA}