Speaking at the annual EU-UK Forum event in Brussels on Tuesday 4 February, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s negotiator for relations with the EU, underlined the Starmer government’s interest in strengthening relations with the EU and defended a “pragmatic approach, seeking to achieve objectives in areas of mutual interest to the UK and the EU”.
This search for stronger partnerships will cover security, law enforcement and the removal of remaining trade barriers.
Mr Thomas-Symonds, who promised to remain “a ruthlessly pragmatic negotiator”, expressed his hope that these areas of mutual interest could be agreed by 19 May, when the UK government will host an EU-UK Summit. This date had also been confirmed the day before by António Costa, the President of the European Council (see EUROPE 13571/42).
“The European Union is the UK’s biggest trading partner, with trade totalling – in 2023 – over £800bn [...] And in a more uncertain world, we are regularly reminded that allies are more secure together than they are apart”, said the Minister, explaining his vision of the “reset” sought by London in its relations with the EU.
“The UK and the EU are linked through trade and international organisations like NATO [...] And even though we voted to leave the EU, our role as key allies and trade partner remains”.
Pledging to fully implement the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the Windsor Framework, he pointed to the many remaining barriers to trade and investment, noting that between 2021 and 2023, goods exported by EU companies to the UK fell by 32% and UK goods exports to the EU by 27%.
For his part, the Commissioner for Trade responsible for relations with London, Maroš Šefčovič, who will meet Mr Thomas-Symonds on Wednesday 5 February, confirmed in a video message that it is of the utmost importance to apply the current agreements organising the relationship between the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the “cornerstone” of current cooperation, and that both sides are working to identify new areas of “closer cooperation” and mutual interest, as requested by Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen last October (see EUROPE 13495/16).
Link to the speech: https://aeur.eu/f/fcr (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)