The next EU-UK summit was set to take place in July but has had to be postponed due to political manoeuverings in London. So when will it take place and what’s on the agenda?
After months of negotiations, the EU and the UK were planning to hold summit on July 22nd, but the resignation of Keir Starmer as UK Prime Minister put the plan on hold.
The summit was part of the ‘reset’ of UK-EU relationships pursued by the current Labour government to move closer to the European Union after the tumultuous years that followed the withdrawal from the bloc.
A first summit took place last year in London, with the announcement of a defence and security pact, continued support for Ukraine, and the UK’s rejoining of the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, the flagship scheme for education, youth and sport exchanges.
The second summit was initially expected in May this year, but negotiations were still ongoing on a youth mobility scheme, which would allow young people to move between the UK and EU countries to work and study for a limited period of time with facilitate visas.
At the centre of contention was, however, the UK demand to cap the number of EU nationals who could access the scheme, as well as the EU request that UK universities would apply home tuition fees – rather than the much higher international fees – to European students.
Other areas on the agenda of the summit were the integration of electricity markets and the plan to remove checks on the trade of agri-food products between the UK and the EU.
On June 16th, Keir Starmer and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the that the summit would take place on July 22nd “so that people on both sides could feel the benefits of UK-EU collaboration as soon as possible”.
But on June 22nd, under pressure from his party, Starmer, resigned from his role of Labour leader and Prime Minister, opening a leadership contest.
Following the events, European Council President António Costa told journalist that the summit had to be postponed. “But we are reassessing the opportunity of this new summit. But my wish is that his successor could give continuity on this good path to reset our relationship with the United Kingdom,” Politico reported.
Starmer is likely to be succeeded by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, with the formal decision expected on July 17th, if no other candidates emerge. Burnham will then have to be appointed Prime Minister by the King.
Burnham has been a strong supporter of the UK’s EU membership but has recently promised not to “re-run” Brexit arguments, indicating he won’t press for the country to rejoin.
From the EU side, it is likely that leaders will wait to see the outcomes of the leadership contest and the party conference in September, before a new date for the summit is confirmed. This could take place later in the autumn.
