Macron tells UK "welcome back" as Burnham floats rejoining the EU

French president Emmanuel Macron, speaking in Madrid alongside Spain's Pedro Sánchez, welcomed British prime minister Andy Burnham's suggestion that the UK could rejoin the EU, which ranges from a customs union to full membership. Macron said Britain cannot pick and choose among the union's freedoms, and EU officials stressed that any closer tie would require alignment with EU trade rules. The exchange shows Europe drawing a major non-member back toward deeper integration, a structural step relevant to the wider question of power consolidating in Europe, though no decision has been made.