We must continue building relations after Europe Day

Last week, I spoke at the Scottish Parliament to mark the 74th Europe Day. This Europe Day was a poignant one -a reminder that in this time of conflict in Europe, it is incredibly important that we all work together to ensure peace.

The invasion of Ukraine goes against Europe’s peace mission and highlights the importance of having a cooperative relationship with Europe regardless of Brexit.

The UK may have left the EU but our response to the Ukraine war shows the importance of providing support to our neighbours in Europe.

I am proud of Edinburgh’s response to the Ukraine crisis and how our city welcomed Ukrainian refugees, offering a home for those who had lost theirs. It was a testament to the strength of our shared value of peace with Europe.

We should continue to build European relationships for a strong Europe in peacetime.

Earlier this month I spoke at the Festival of Europe and urged that rather than bickering about Brexit once more, we should build a new productive relationship with Europe. There are several ways we can do that. Culture has suffered from Brexit and that is felt very strongly here in Edinburgh, a rich cultural capital.

Performers and artists from Scotland are held back by the high costs of touring in Europe, and vice versa.

If artists cannot come here, the stability of festivals such as the Edinburgh Fringe is threatened, as is our status as a leading country for culture.

This will also impact other industries in Edinburgh which benefit from festival footfall, such as hospitality.

We need a new touring agreement with the EU so that artists can tour without expensive visas.

Education is also a sector which has been hit by Brexit, with Scotland’s loss of access to the Erasmus scheme which allowed Scottish students to study in Europe.

The loss of this is in no doubt regrettable-even more reason to work to develop new solutions.

Scotland should look at emulating the success of Wales’ Taith scheme, which allows Welsh students continued access to educational exchanges.

It is essential that, now Brexit has happened, we work to build back strong relationships and opportunities.

We must have a collaborative relationship with our European partners to deliver on agreements for sectors such as culture and education.

More importantly than all, we must never forget what happened in the past, but strive for co-operation and peace.