Brussels and London on Monday agreed new deals on fishing, energy, youth mobility and defence following marathon talks that concluded just a few hours before the first-ever EU-UK summit was to be held.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council chief Antonio Costa agreed on three documents: a joint statement where they set out common ground on key geopolitical challenges, a security and defence partnership, and a Common Understanding.
"Today we have struck this landmark deal with the EU. A new partnership between an independent Britain and our allies in Europe," Starmer told reporters after the summit. "It marks a new era in our relationship."
Von der Leyen was similarly effusive, describing it as a "historic" deal that "will make a real difference to people in the UK and across our Union".
"But the message we’re sending to the world today is equally if not more important. It is a message that at a time of global instability and when our continent faces the greatest threat it has in generations, we in Europe stick together," she added.
Brexit-era divergences loom large
For both sides, the summit was initially aimed at showing just how closely aligned on key global issues they are at a time when the post-war multilateral world order is being attacked by Moscow, Beijing, and now increasingly Washington.
But the spectre of Brexit quickly loomed large with bilateral and sectoral issues taking talks to the wire and risking to turn this summit into a damp squib. On the one side, the EU stuck to its position that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, while on the other, Britain's Labour government had to contend with bruising local elections where Brexiteer Nigel Farage's Reform Party performed well.
The Common Understanding, which sets out the parametres of the relationships over a number of bilateral issues including thorny ones such as fishing rights, Sanitary and Phytosanitary rules (SPS), and youth mobility, was therefore the hardest to thrash out, with negotiations continuing overnight on Sunday.
Politically, the hardest domestic sell for host Keir Starmer, are a 12-year extension of full reciprocal access to waters to fish and the European Court of Justice having jurisdiction over SPS matters.
The current fishing rules are set to expire in June 2026 and numbers that had been floated before the deal was finalised hovered around a five-year extension.
Starmer rejected claims he had sold out Britain's fishing industry for closer alignment with the EU on other issues, telling reporters that the deal "is about bills, it's about jobs, and it's about borders".
"it is incredibly important for fish because 70% of our seafood goes into the European market," he also said.
Both sides were keen to stress that the package is ambitious, balanced and crucially did not cross any red lines they both had going into the talks.
Costa said for instance that "over the past months" the two sides had "worked tirelessly to rebuild trust" and that the resulting agreements "represent more than just words on paper".
"They are a reflection of our shared commitments — to security, to prosperity, to development, and to the people we serve on both sides of the Channel."
An EU official added that "negotiations took place always in good faith on both sides".
More talks needed to cement roadmap
This good faith will need to continue as Brussels and London will have to return to the negotiating table quickly to formalise the sectoral deals included in the Common Understanding with legal agreements.
The same applies to the security and defence cooperation as the partnership struck on Monday does not yet allow UK manufacturers to take part in the EU's €150 billion SAFE programme to boost joint procurement. How much the UK will need to contribute to the EU budget to take part, for instance, has yet to be defined.
The instrument, part of the EU's Readiness 2030 plan to strengthen the bloc's defence sector and capabilities, includes a so-called European preference under which some 65% of the weapon systems bought must be made in the EU or by a third-country manufacturer provided similar agreements are in place.
As part of the partnership, the two sides also commit to twice-yearly foreign and security policy dialogues between the EU and the UK's top diplomats, as well as a new annual dedicated security and defence dialogue and exchanges on many areas ranging from "peace mediation to crisis response".
The political agreement on energy includes a willingness to explore the UK's participation in the EU's internal electricity market with the text making it clear that the final agreement would require London to agree to "dynamically align" with EU rules and that any arbitration issue would have to go through the European Court of Justice.
The deal for a youth mobility scheme, meanwhile, would provide for age-limited, time-limited mobility allowing young people to travel, work, volunteer and study in each other's territory.
Reynolds, speaking to the BBC earlier in the day, emphasised that it would be similar to 13 similar such schemes the UK has with other countries and that is it "very different to freedom of movement" as a visa would still be required and the national health service wouldn't be free of charge for those benefitting from the scheme.
The three leaders agreed Monday's summit would be "the first of many", as Costa said, with meetings to be held annually.
