UK-EU Summit – A new Strategic Partnership
On 19 May 2025, António Costa, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London for the first UK-EU summit since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The EU Commission and the UK agreed on a policy paper titled “UK-EU Summit – Common Understanding” which will serve as a roadmap for future UK-EU cooperation. Below are the key areas the Summit focused on:
Security and Defence Partnership
On the occasion of the Summit, both sides concluded a Security and Defence Partnership aiming to boost cooperation in areas such as:
Supporting Ukraine
Security and Defence initiatives (including on defence industry)
Mobility of military materiel and personnel
Space security
Regular high-level dialogues and strategic consultations
Peacebuilding and crisis management
Cyber issues
Countering hybrid threats
Resilience of critical infrastructure
The partnership was also presented as the first step towards UK participation in Europe’s defence and investment programme called SAFE (which is a 150 billion loan instrument for joint procurement)
Additionally, the Partnership highlights that the UK and the EU will “exchange on issues related to emerging disruptive technologies, including the development of international governance efforts on the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in security and defence.”
Youth experience scheme
Both sides agreed to work towards a “balanced youth experience scheme on terms mutually agreed”. The EU and the UK have therefore agreed they would seek to facilitate participation of young people in various activities such as:
Work
Studies
Au-paring
Volunteering
Traveling
Additionally, the EU and the UK will now work together towards the UK’ association to the EU’s Erasmus+ programme.
Strengthening economies and achieving climate goals
The EU and the UK agreed to boost energy cooperation in different ways, including the exploration of the UK’ potential participation in the EU’s internal electricity market. New energy technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture, and use and storage of biomethane were also highlighted as an area in which both sides would seek to continue technical regulatory exchanges on.
Other areas of cooperation included working towards:
A Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement
Linking Emission Trading Systems
Facilitating entry and temporary stay of natural persons for business reasons (including recognition of professional qualifications and sponsorship schemes)
Competition enforcement
Internal Security, judicial cooperation, and migration
Both sides agreed to reinforce cooperation between Europol, and the National Crime Agency, and their respectives competent law enforcement authorities. They also indicated they would explore ways to reinforce mutual and reciprocal exchanges of data and fingerprints.
Other areas of cooperation included (among others):
Better coordination and sharing of information in multilateral fora such as the EU’s Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling
Working on practical solitinos to reduce irregular migration
Exchanging analysis on visa abuse by third country nationals
Next steps
The UK and EU have agreed to hold annual summits to assess and take stock of their bilateral relationship. This regular forum is intended to provide a stable framework for ongoing cooperation and allow both sides to review progress and address emerging issues
Additionally, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas will hold a dialogue once per semester.
The Summit, unsurprisingly, strongly focused on Defence cooperation, but sends positive signals on global trade, energy and mobility. techUK stands ready to support this Strategic Partnership and will explore the best ways to do so in the coming weeks.
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