UK-EU Relations Beyond The TCA I: Building New Links
Chair(s): Simon Usherwood (Open University)
Discussant(s): David Phinnemore (Queens University Belfast)
The Windsor Framework of 2023 appears to have taken away most of the immediate flashpoints in UK-EU relations, cementing the position of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and (especially) the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) as the central frameworks for future interactions. However, the TCA is a very narrow foundation, with activity beyond the core free trade arrangements largely undeveloped. This panel (one of two) considers where this leaves relations and what options are available for the two parties to build and rebuild connections. Drawing on work supported by the ESRC's UK in a Changing Europe initiative, the papers explore the post-Windsor landscape and opportunities both within and outside the WA/TCA and the potential impact of a change in government in the UK at the next General Election.
Presentations of the Symposium
From Brexit to UK-EU relations: The baseline parameters and constraints
Simon Usherwood, David Moloney
Open University
The unique nature of the divergence between the EU and the UK following the 2016 referendum makes the emergence of a new stable relationship particularly problematic. While the WA and TCA establish frameworks for interaction and future relations, they do not and cannot determine how those frameworks are used in political or practical terms. The paper argues that while EU preferences appear relatively coherent around increasing links with the UK, the UK still lacks any strategic clarity about whether this is desirable. Drawing on interviews with policymakers on both sides, there is an exploration of both specific case studies (such as electric car batteries and fisheries) and more systemic dynamics.
Prospects For UK-EU Relations Under A Labour Government
Joël Reland
UK in a Changing Europe
The paper focuses on how the Labour Party coming to power at the next General Election would change UK-EU relations. It will consider a) the party’s policy priorities and the political and institutional factors which might constrain them; and b) how the structure of the relationship (EU policymaking within Whitehall, institutional fora for UK-EU dialogue) might develop alongside this. It will draw on key findings from a UKICE report (to be published summer 2024) on the state of UK-EU relations.
The EU And The UK Post-Brexit: Coordination, Solidarity, And The Bilateral Dimension
Cleo Davies, Hussein Kassim
Warwick University
Although it is well established that the EU’s approach to negotiations with the UK in the wake of the 2016 referendum was characterised by unity and solidarity, less attention has been paid to structures and processes on the EU side since the UK’s departure from the EU. This paper looks at EU policy dynamics on relations with the UK in the post-Brexit era. It looks at the formal machinery and at the interaction among EU institutions and between EU institutions and the member states. Emphasising that EU-UK relations are structured by the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, but extends beyond the consultative committees that they have created, and drawing on interviews with EU and national officials as part of a series of externally funded research projects, this paper examines the thirty-plus bilateral memorandums that the UK has struck with EU member states. It makes three arguments: the first is that the unity and coordination that marked the EU’s approach to the negotiations has continued since Brexit, although the institutional context has changed and the governance structures on the EU side have been adapted; the second is that close reading of the bilateral texts shows continuing solidarity on the EU side; and third, that contrary to the impression given by the rhetoric of UK ministers, the actual and potential scope of UK bilateral agreements with EU member states remains limited.
Shaking It Up? Brexit And The EU’s Relations With Its Neighbours
Hussein Kassim, Cleo Davies
Warwick University
Although many of the consequences of the UK’s departure from the EU for the working of EU institutions and policy have been the subject of scholarly attention, key aspects of the EU’s strategic response to the UK referendum and its outcome, including the effect on the EU’s neighbourhood policy, have been overlooked. Drawing on interviews conducted in Brussels and the member states, this paper looks at the debate and deliberations that have taken place in the institutions on the issue, how structures particularly within the Commission have been reconfigured to reflect a new outlook on the EU’s relations with its close neighbours, and at the influence that the Brexit negotiations and post-Brexit UK-EU relations have had on the EU’s approach to its agreement with Switzerland.
