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REPORT (2024/2108(INI))

On the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

A-10-2025-0226

Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee on International Trade · Rapporteur: Thijs Reuten, Nina Carberry

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Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This resolution assesses the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), covering trade, fisheries, energy, transport, social security, and cooperation on foreign policy and security. It welcomes the 2025 EU-UK Summit outcomes, including the Security and Defence Partnership, and calls for full implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and Windsor Framework, especially regarding Northern Ireland. It urges progress on a common sanitary and phytosanitary area, customs simplification, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, and youth mobility schemes, including UK association with Erasmus+. It calls for continued cooperation on climate, energy, and financial services, while monitoring regulatory divergence and ensuring a level playing field. It stresses the need to address barriers for EU fishers, artists, students, and researchers, and to enhance parliamentary scrutiny and civil society involvement.

Committee position. The joint report proposes a resolution that welcomes the TCA's implementation and the 2025 Summit outcomes, while calling for concrete actions on trade, fisheries, energy, mobility, and security cooperation.

Key points

  1. Calls for full, timely, and faithful implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Windsor Framework, and the TCA, with special attention to Northern Ireland's unique position.
  2. Welcomes the EU-UK Summit of 19 May 2025 and the Security and Defence Partnership, urging concrete follow-up and annual summits.
  3. Urges the Commission to monitor UK regulatory divergence and ensure compliance with TCA level playing field provisions, including on labour, environment, and state aid.
  4. Calls for swift negotiations on a common SPS area and customs cooperation to reduce trade friction, including for SMEs.
  5. Demands action to address barriers to services trade, including visa sponsorship, and to advance mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
  6. Welcomes the UK's participation in Horizon Europe and Copernicus, but calls for fair financial contributions and full parliamentary involvement in future associations.
  7. Calls for a youth mobility scheme and UK association with Erasmus+ and Creative Europe, to restore people-to-people ties.
  8. Urges the UK to repeal the Legacy Act and comply with the European Court of Human Rights, and to disapply the electronic travel authorisation to Northern Ireland.
  9. Calls for enhanced cooperation on energy, including linking emissions trading systems and exploring UK participation in the internal electricity market.
  10. Expresses concern over UK unilateral fisheries measures and calls for full implementation of the TCA fisheries provisions, including access to waters.
  11. Welcomes the Security and Defence Partnership and calls for deeper defence industrial cooperation, including UK participation in EU defence initiatives.
  12. Calls for continued cooperation on law enforcement and judicial matters, including data exchange, while ensuring high data protection standards.

Who is affected

  • EU and UK businesses, especially SMEs, face customs and regulatory burdens; the resolution calls for simplification and mutual recognition.
  • EU and UK citizens, including students, researchers, artists, and fishers, are affected by mobility and access barriers; the resolution calls for schemes to ease these.
  • Northern Ireland is particularly affected; the resolution calls for full implementation of the Windsor Framework and protection of the Good Friday Agreement.
  • The UK and EU defence industries are targeted for enhanced cooperation under the Security and Defence Partnership.
  • EU and UK fishers are affected by access to waters and quota arrangements; the resolution calls for fair and sustainable fisheries management.

Figures and deadlines

  • The TCA entered into force on 1 January 2021.
  • The UK participates in Horizon Europe and Copernicus as of 1 January 2024.
  • The EU-UK Summit was held on 19 May 2025.
  • The UK's refusal rate for EU Settlement Scheme applications in Northern Ireland was 21% in December 2024.
  • The EU's TACs in UK waters reduce by 25% until the end of 2026.
  • The political agreement on fisheries access lasts until 30 June 2038.
  • The UK's defence spending target is 2.5% of GDP by April 2027.
  • The equivalence for UK central counterparties is extended until 30 June 2028.

Legal basis: Article 217 TFEU, in conjunction with Article 218 TFEU.