The United Kingdom and the European Union are negotiating a strategic partnership, which would see collaboration on defence and trade, to be signed at a summit on 19 May.
Leaders are aiming to ink a security pact that would allow the U.K. to participate in the E.U.’s joint procurement deals for military equipment, as well as enabling the E.U. to acquire U.K. equipment. A U.K. draft statement sent to E.U. nations also outlines cooperation on free trade and climate targets.
“We reaffirmed our continued support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders,” the statement reportedly said.
“We confirmed our shared principles of maintaining global economic stability and our mutual commitment to free and open trade.”
The statement also affirms the U.K. and E.U.’s commitment to the climate standards outlined under the Paris Accords, which would limit global temperature increases to 1.5º Celsius.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met on the sidelines of the Summit on the Future of Energy Security two weeks ago to discuss defence and fishing arrangements, with talks on a trade deal to follow.
The international Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a mixed ruling on the U.K.’s North Sea fishing rights on Friday, another point of negotiations. The court said that while the U.K.’s current ban on North Sea sandeel fishing breached its obligations to allow access to its waters, it dismissed E.U. arguments that the ban was discriminatory.
However, the E.U. has rejected the U.K.’s calls for access to its crime and immigration databases.
Starmer has encouraged greater sharing of data between the U.K. and E.U. nations, but the E.U. has said it would not allow the country to view the Schengen Information System, which hosts information on criminal suspects, or Eurodac, its fingerprinting system for undocumented migrants.
The U.K. is also reportedly weighing a deal for a capped number of younger Europeans to receive living and working rights in the country for two years, with a reciprocal plan for U.K. citizens to do the same in Europe.
The meeting between the U.K. and the E.U. will come shortly after a European Political Community Summit in Albania on 16 May.
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