Global trends: The Brexit taboo has been broken: Great Britain is experiencing a new EU debate

London. “Budget Day” is a national community experience in Great Britain: Brits follow the Chancellor of the Exchequer's annual budget speech in pubs and banks to find out what the government is planning - and what that means for their wallets. This year expectations were particularly high as Prime Minister Andy Burnham had promised a new beginning in economic policy.

But things turned out differently: “The Prime Minister took power with a promise to end 40 years of neoliberalism, and instead we got a four pence discount on pickles,” said the conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch against a draft budget that contains more than 100 individual measures but lacks an economic policy strategy for more growth.

It is not yet clear how Burnham plans to overcome Britain's chronic weak growth. His only indication that deserves the title “new beginning” points across the English Channel towards Europe. It is no coincidence that the national discourse this week is not about the budget, but rather about the UK's possible return to the EU.

The 56-year-old Burnham has declared such a comeback not only possible, but also desirable “during his lifetime.” In doing so, he has broken the secret Brexit taboo that politicians from all major parties in Great Britain have adhered to for ten years.

After the narrow vote in the 2016 referendum to leave the EU, no one wanted to touch the issue that still hurts and divides the kingdom today. Even the conservative and right-wing populist supporters of leaving the EU avoided the topic because many of their promises turned out to be lies. This prevented a long-overdue national debate about Britain's place in the world.

Burnham has now changed that: there is a debate about the EU again in Parliament. In London, political salons discuss the pros and cons of membership. For example, because Great Britain cannot exploit its growth potential without close economic ties to its European neighbors. But also because the threat of an imperialist Russia and the US turning away from Europe have reminded the British that they cannot escape their geographical situation through defiance.

Burnham is only saying what many in the kingdom have been thinking for a long time: According to opinion polls, a majority of Brits not only think Brexit is a mistake, but also support a return to the EU. Until the next general election, which could come sooner than 2029, the Prime Minister has ruled out joining the customs union or the internal market as well as renewed EU membership. However, “all options are on the table” for the time after that.

Burnham said he could even imagine a return to free movement of people. The concern of many Brits about high immigration numbers is the biggest hurdle to rapprochement with the EU.

Wrongfully so, as the figures show: the number of legal and illegal immigrants to Great Britain has actually increased since Brexit - they now come from non-EU countries. In addition, it is unlikely that other Europeans will pack their bags en masse when London reopens the borders to EU citizens.

The Europeans on this side of the English Channel are watching the change in mood on the island with a mixture of astonishment and fascination. It would be necessary for a debate to begin in this country about a possible return of Great Britain to the EU.

One of the many hurdles that a British comeback would have to overcome is, not least, the question of what kind of EU Great Britain would return to. Right-wing populists in France, Germany, Spain and Poland could then determine the course of Europe and reduce the attractiveness of the community.