Both sides are also expected to use next month’s meeting to reach a “common understanding” of which issues will be tackled under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s wider Brexit reset — which has so far been lacking in policy detail.
That could pave the way for negotiations on U.K. objectives like an agri-food standards agreement to reduce trade bureaucracy, as well as EU plans like improved mobility for young people and students.
London and Brussels will also pen a separate joint declaration on “global issues” at the conference — which could lay out common ground on topics such as the war in Ukraine or the global trading system, according to two EU officials with knowledge of preparations for the summit.
But progress on the security pact in particular is expected to be dependent on the U.K.’s guaranteeing continued access for EU fishing fleets in its waters — a key demand of coastal member states like France and Denmark, who fear being cut out when a Brexit fisheries transition period ends in June 2026.
“Any progress on a security and defense agreement is linked to progress on fisheries,” one of the EU officials told POLITICO.
The EU diplomat, quoted above, said the security agreement would have to “go hand in hand with fisheries.” They were granted anonymity to speak freely about the ongoing negotiations.