A New EU/UK Partnership for a New European Security Era

The Starmer Government of the United Kingdom and European Union leaders have stated repeatedly that they are committed, in principle, to creating a broad and deep security and defence partnership between the UK and the EU. Negotiations with a view to realising this ambition are believed to be making significant progress and they have been given fresh urgency and a sharper focus by events in Ukraine and the USA. At the same time, and in response to those events, the formation of coalitions of the willing, both within and beyond the EU, to provide support for Ukraine and to respond to the challenges facing Europe and the democratic world more generally, are being actively canvassed, in a way that would have been inconceivable a few weeks ago.
 

The round table discussion, led by a small panel of speakers, will provide an opportunity to take stock of what has been, and what remains to be, achieved in defining the new EU/UK partnership. Among issues to be considered will be any impediments, resulting from the status of the UK as a third country which is not associated to the EU as a member of the EEA, to its participation in the EU’s various capability-building instruments and, more generally, to the development of cooperation between the defence industries of the EU and the UK, and ideas as to how such impediments may be overcome. We will also consider the implications for wider security cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs and for a general economic “re-set”.

Chair
Professor Eleanor Spaventa, Institute for European Policymaking @ Bocconi University
 

Speakers
Professor Sir Alan Dashwood KC, Barrister, Henderson Chambers
Sir Jonathan Faull, Chair of European Public Affairs at the Brunswick Group
Sir Julian King, Former UK Ambassador to France and to Ireland and Head of the Northern Ireland Office