UK-EU Relations Tracker Q4 2023

This edition of the UK in a Changing Europe UK-EU Relations Tracker covers developments from October to December 2023, and looks forward to 2024. In the Q4 2023 edition, the UK-EU Relations Tracker examines the ongoing implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement; negotiations around the UK’s participation in an EU-led defence project; a possible agreement between UK agencies and Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency; and the bilateral agreements the UK has signed with European states during the period. It also covers developments at a political level, highlighting the blossoming relationship between Rishi Sunak and the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a diplomatic spat between Sunak and the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and heightened tensions in the UK-Ireland relationship over the UK’s Troubles Legacy Act. Looking forward, the Tracker also suggests that the relationship between the UK and the EU is at risk of ‘operating in a vacuum’ as political attention shifts towards elections in 2024.