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The UK’s relationship with the EU has been far from perfect since the Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force. For much of the past two years relations have been characterised by tension and mistrust. However, the recent change in atmosphere, following the Windsor Framework agreement and close cooperation in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, provides a window of opportunity for a reset that must not be wasted.
In this context, the House of Lords European Affairs Committee has published a new report that considers how the UK-EU relationship should be developed from here to the mutual benefit of both parties. This is the final product of a major inquiry, during which we heard oral evidence from over 40 witnesses and received around 60 written submissions.
We focused on four core themes that we identified as especially salient:
The overall political, diplomatic and institutional relationship
We have heard consistent evidence of the need to strengthen communication, between the UK and the EU but also internally within the UK (for example, with the devolved governments). This is essential if trust is to rebuilt.
We recommend a considerable increase in activity within existing structures, including the Partnership Council and the TCA Specialised Committees. As our report sets out, much of the TCA structure has been doing little due to the Northern Ireland Protocol impasse. These committees now need to spring into action so that mutually beneficial tweaks to the arrangements can be discussed.
We also recommend that there should be regular UK-EU summits as a focus for political and diplomatic engagement, in the same way that the EU has regular summits with other international partners such as Canada, Japan and the United States. The government should propose holding the first such event in the UK.
The nascent European Political Community will provide additional opportunities for the UK to engage positively with European partners on matters of common interest. The inaugural summit in Prague was productive and we look forward to future summits, including that due to be held in the UK in 2024...
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