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:

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:

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.

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.

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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