{"id":25190,"date":"2025-04-16T16:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/25190\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T16:24:07","slug":"soft-brexit-defence-deal-at-risk-unless-uk-can-get-eu-to-ditch-fishing-demands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/25190\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Brexit defence deal at risk unless UK can get EU to ditch fishing demands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain is pushing the EU to get it to drop a demand that a security and defence pact cannot be agreed between the two sides unless the UK makes concessions on fishing rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of this, the UK Government is increasingly looking to tie Brexit reset negotiations<\/a> to the security situation on the ground in Europe, The i Paper understands.<\/p>\n

EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds visited the border in Poland \u2013 which is dealing with a migration crisis fuelled by Russian aggression \u2013 and argued, in an article for The i Paper last week<\/a>, that the two sides need to take their relationship to the \u201cnext level\u201d, including a Security and Defence Partnership.<\/p>\n

He is likely to continue this approach as part of wider moves to get Brussels to agree to separate security and defence from wider Brexit reset talks, and pave the way for the two sides to potentially sign a pact at the landmark UK-EU summit on 19 May, The i Paper understands.<\/p>\n

France, backed by the likes of Denmark, continued to insist on fish-for-defence at a key meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels last Friday, to prepare for the summit.<\/p>\n

However, other member states, such as Germany and Poland, have long backed the UK\u2019s position that in the face of Russian aggression, and the US partly withdrawing from Europe, it is in the interest of both sides to agree a defence deal without subjecting it to preconditions.<\/p>\n

Sandro Gozi, an ally of Emmanuel Macron who is the European Parliament\u2019s Brexit reset lead, said the UK must resolve the issue of fishing rights to build \u201ctrust\u201d with the EU as the current deal on fish expires in 2026, under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement<\/a> (TCA).<\/p>\n

Asked whether a deal with defence could be separated out from wider issues such as fishing rights, he told The i Paper: \u201cIt is not fish versus peace, or fish versus weapons. It is about launching a new partnership, a new agenda by doing two things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first is building a common trust basis that can only be built up by properly, fully implementing the TCA and also tackling the outstanding issues, and among these is fisheries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, in parallel, the partnership has to take stock of the new common interest and challenges in the geopolitical context.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU did, however, agree at the meeting to take a \u201cpackage\u201d approach to wider Brexit reset talks.<\/p>\n

This means that negotiations in other areas \u2013 such as youth mobility, energy, business mobility, and an SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) deal to ease food trade \u2013 will be linked to each other, although \u201cthese wouldn\u2019t necessarily move on the same timelines\u201d, according to a European diplomatic source.<\/p>\n

Brussels has now submitted to London an early draft joint political declaration, which could be signed at the May meeting in the UK, and is awaiting a response.<\/p>\n

The response could potentially come ahead of talks between Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a Lancaster House international summit on energy security on 24 April.<\/p>\n

The UK is understood to be pushing for the declaration to display as much progress as possible at the May summit on talks over a reset in relations \u2013 which have seen Brexit negotiator Michael Ellam engaged in shuttle diplomacy with Brussels, and Thomas-Symonds increasingly visiting European capitals \u2013 and for a side agreement on defence which is not tied to fishing rights.<\/p>\n

Britain has indicated a willingness to compromise on fish, but does not believe an agreement in this area should be a quid pro quo to a defence deal.<\/p>\n

Labour MPs increasingly believe a defence deal is within grasp. One said they had been \u201ctold a security pact has been done\u201d, raising the prospect that it may have been agreed at a technical level between UK and EU officials, but does not yet have political sign-off.<\/p>\n

Several sources expect any security deal to include UK involvement in Europe\u2019s joint \u00a3150bn defence fund, although this may mean British firms are only included in the rearmament package if they collaborate with European partners.<\/p>\n

A senior Labour MP said it was a \u201cno-brainer\u201d for both sides to include the UK in the ReArm joint defence fund <\/a>and that a defence deal was now \u201cmuch more likely\u201d since Donald Trump called into question the future of US security guarantees for Europe.<\/p>\n

Former Lib Dem Armed Forces minister Sir Nick Harvey said there was \u201cgrowing consensus in London and Brussels\u201d that any defence agreement with Brussels could be partly modelled on the EU-Norway Security and Defence Partnership.<\/p>\n

This could include intelligence-sharing, joint strategic planning, UK participation in EU high-level meetings, an annual bilateral dialogue, and British involvement in EU-led crisis management exercises.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrucially\u201d, said Harvey, it would also unlock British access to defence industrial collaboration, a key ask of the Prime Minister, including participation in the European Defence Fund, moves to ramp up ammunition and missile production in response to the Ukraine war and joint procurement efforts such as ReArm and European Industry Reinforcement.<\/p>\n

Harvey, chief executive of the pro-EU European Movement, also called for any deal to include British troop participation in common European defence missions.<\/p>\n

He told The i Paper: \u201cA UK-EU Security and Defence Partnership is not just overdue \u2013 it is essential. The threats facing Europe are increasingly complex and transnational. From Ukraine to hybrid warfare to global supply chain vulnerabilities, neither the UK nor the EU can afford to go it alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cA structured, mutually beneficial partnership would strengthen Europe\u2019s collective security \u2013 and mark an important step towards a more constructive UK-EU relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, pro-EU Labour MPs prepared to ramp up the pressure on Starmer to move towards a softer Brexit than planned in the reset, with the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) now granted the same status by parliamentary authorities as the Conservative European Research Group (ERG).<\/p>\n

LME chair Stella Creasy wrote to colleagues last month to say that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) had approved her organisation to offer bespoke pooled research on \u201call matters European\u201d which can be paid for from MPs\u2019 budgets at the price of \u00a3100 a month.<\/p>\n

Creasy said: \u201cThe Labour Movement for Europe is Labour\u2019s only affiliate dedicated to our nation\u2019s future working relationship with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis service will provide briefings as well as updates on what is happening across Europe, and sample material to help you respond to your constituents on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a defence deal, a Government spokeswoman said: \u201cThe UK has been a leader in enhancing the defence and security of the continent, and we stand ready to negotiate a Security and Defence Partnership Agreement with the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe upcoming UK-EU Summit will cover a range of issues as we look to foster a stable, positive and forward-looking relationship. We will not be providing a running commentary on these talks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain is pushing the EU to get it to drop a demand that a security and defence pact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2993,5293,2000,299,5187,1699,6481,4884,7570,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-25190","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-defence","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-fishing","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-politics-long-read","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114348573650701107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25190","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=25190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}