![\"\\u200bUrsula](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/u200bursula-von-der-leyen-president-of-the-european-commission-and-keir-starmer.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBritain has asked to rejoin the European Union’s pet passport scheme as part of Brexit reset talks, four years after leaving the arrangement when the Brexit transition period ended. <\/p>\n
UK officials want British cats, dogs and ferrets to regain EU freedom of movement as they discuss a new Swiss-style veterinary deal.<\/p>\n
Some 250,000 UK pet owners were estimated to have taken their pets to the EU annually before Britain left the scheme in January 2021. <\/p>\n
Taking a British pet to the EU or Northern Ireland is now far more expensive and time-consuming for owners due to post-Brexit rules.<\/p>\n
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Keir Starmer<\/p>\n
Reuters<\/p>\n
Under current rules, UK pet owners can no longer use EU pet passports and instead need to get a vet’s certificate confirming rabies vaccinations are up to date before travelling.<\/p>\n
A rabies jab typically costs between \u00a350 and \u00a380, while an animal health certificate ranges from \u00a3100 to \u00a3200.<\/p>\n
Additional worming treatment required for travel to Ireland, Finland, Malta or Norway costs around \u00a315, bringing potential costs to \u00a3295. By contrast, the EU pet passport is a single document valid for life as long as rabies vaccinations remain current.<\/p>\n
The request to rejoin the pet passport scheme comes ahead of Monday’s Brexit ‘reset’ summit in London, where the UK Government will host EU leaders. <\/p>\n
A deal on sanitary and phytosanitary measures is expected to be secured by the Government, conceding to EU demands on a fish-related agreement.<\/p>\n
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:<\/strong><\/p>\n Frodo Baggins the pug was the first to travel with the pet passport in 2002<\/p>\n PA<\/p>\n This agreement would see the UK align with EU laws on plant and animal health and follow European court rulings, opening the door to Britain rejoining the pet passport scheme.<\/p>\n A Government source said: “We have always been clear that that kind of agreement can bring all kinds of benefits.” <\/p>\n The pet passport scheme is just one element of a broader push to reset UK-EU relations. <\/p>\n The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for a “major reset” with the EU, urging both sides to “build bridges” and move beyond Brexit divisions.<\/p>\n In a report published ahead of the summit, the CBI calls for “practical steps” to ease travel, cut red tape and take joint action on energy, climate and defence. <\/p>\n The group says the current setup is “no longer fit for purpose” in a world of rising geopolitical threats and economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n The Government’s aims for the reset include a defence deal and wider negotiation of the trading relationship between the UK and the bloc. A security pact could enable greater UK involvement in EU defence procurement projects and access to loans for British defence firms.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer expressed confidence during a visit to Albania yesterday, saying: “I’m confident we will make really good progress into Monday.” <\/p>\n He added that his refusal to conduct “megaphone diplomacy” had enabled the Government to make “good progress” in negotiations with the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain has asked to rejoin the European Union’s pet passport scheme as part of Brexit reset talks, four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,528,12,285,512,16,1259,3106,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-107194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-labour-party","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-sgg","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-uk-news","21":"tag-uk-politics","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114519429854936879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\\u200bFrodo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/u200bfrodo-baggins-the-pug-was-the-first-dog-to-travel-with-the-pet-passport-in-2002.jpg\")