David McAllister MEP on this morning’s AFET/ INTA vote on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) Implementation Report

“This morning the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on International Trade adopted the Implementation Report on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with 71 votes in favour, one against and three abstentions.

This report covers the first two years of the agreement’s implementation since 2021. It combines the work of ten associated and two opinion-giving committees, and is thus unprecedented in its scope and complexity. The report covers multiple areas, including trade and financial services, regulatory divergence, law enforcement, European Union programmes, culture, youth, sport as well as cybersecurity.

The full implementation of the TCA is of substantial importance to our future relationship with the United Kingdom. I welcome the fact that we had the opportunity to compile this report, after the successful agreement on the Windsor Framework. This underlines that our common efforts to ensure constructive cooperation are bearing fruits.

Nevertheless, much remains to be done. On foreign affairs, security and defence in particular, Parliament regrets that no provisions have been made to deepen our cooperation. In the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the coordinated support by the UK and the EU was exemplary of the potential for a successful future partnership in this area. Our future policies should build on this fact.

Parliament will vote on the report during its plenary session in November.”