ABSTRACT
In the new millennium, Wilton Park focused on key UK concerns in EU policy areas: competitiveness, the European Union (EU) budget and agriculture. Securing public support for new EU constitutional arrangements though presented the major challenge. Although governments recognised the political downside from failure to ratify prospective treaties, they were aware the EU’s mix of supra-nationality and inter-governmentalism alienated many citizens, so shied away from taking overly pro-integrationist positions. As Euroscepticism grew in this vacuum, and in light of ‘enlargement fatigue’ after the EU’s ‘Big Bang’ enlargement in 2004 and the 2007/8 global financial and subsequent Eurozone crises, Wilton Park’s programming of EU subjects dwindled. There was little coverage of the EU in the five years preceding the 2016 EU referendum and since. The UK’s subsequent departure from the EU and corresponding ‘Global Britain’ strategy were regarded as a pivot away from Europe. Outside EU frameworks, the UK’s post-Brexit emphasis on bilateral relationships were believed to make relationships with EU partners more challenging. However, as UK-EU relations gradually improve, Wilton Park again has the potential to be an important UK public diplomacy asset to progress them.
