The European Council agreed on Monday to gradually resume all political re-engagement with Thailand and to possibly restart free trade talks with the country, now that the junta confirmed the general election will be held in November. Thailand will hold a general election in November 2018, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in October, the most precise date he has given yet for the vote since taking power in a 2014 military coup. The EU have long warned the military junta ruling Thailand that the country must return to “free and fair elections” or risk the future of all EU-Thailand relations.