Joe Meighan assesses progress made since May and asks, when will the substance catch up with the rhetoric?
It’s now six months since the UK and EU wrapped up their much-trailed summit back in May, sold at the time as a reset after years of mutual distrust and friction. The tone was warmer, the communiqués sounded constructive, and for a moment it felt like the relationship might finally be edging out of its post-Brexit malaise.
Half a year on, the mood music has held. The progress has not.
The prime output of the summit, the Common Understanding, was meant to provide a practical roadmap for rebuilding cooperation without reopening the big political battles. Yet the journey since then has been uneven, and in some areas barely begun. Here’s where things stand.
Where We’ve Seen Progress
Security and Defence Dialogue
Regular channels are functioning again. The official UK-EU Security and Defence pact has laid out a framework for the direction of travel. Officials on both sides say cooperation on sanctions, intelligence and Ukraine support is steadier and more predictable than it has been in years. No further breakthroughs on specific asks, but a welcome return to normal working practice.
Science and Innovation
The dust has settled after the turbulence of post-Horizon arrangements. Joint working groups are meeting, and research communities on both sides report a more stable environment.
Where Progress Has Stalled
Youth Mobility Discussions
Both sides have quietly dropped the post-Brexit point-scoring around mobility schemes. There is now a genuine, if cautious, conversation about a limited, reciprocal programme. It’s early, but the door is at least open.
Trade and SPS
Despite talk of “reducing frictions,” the practical burdens on traders remain largely unchanged. The SPS working groups launched after the summit have met several times, but negotiations are still stuck on the familiar question: how to reduce checks without the UK committing to alignment it views as politically radioactive. For now, it’s technical discussion rather than political movement.
Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications
Hyped as a potential quick win, this remains a blank space. No overarching agreement, and sector-specific fixes are inching forward at best.
Mobility Beyond Youth Schemes
The creative industries, seasonal workers and service providers are still facing the same obstacles that prompted headlines years ago. Acknowledgement of the problem has not yet led to solutions.
Energy Cooperation
The summit promised “enhanced coordination,” but the energy talks have been slow. There is progress in principle on improving interconnector efficiency and information-sharing, yet the more ambitious ideas; market coupling, long-term planning and joint resilience work, remain parked.
Looking Ahead
The temperature of the relationship has improved, but warmth alone isn’t policy. Without tangible outcomes, the UK–EU dynamic risks shifting from hostile stalemate to comfortable drift. The technical talks underway, on SPS, energy, mobility and trade facilitation, offer a chance to change that, but only if political will matches the polite language. Lurking in the background of any steps made by the EU summit is the continuing drumbeat of EU legislation being created and enacted, further diverging from our retained EU law, without the prospect of any concrete proposition for “dynamic alignment” - slow progress risks biting its own tail.
The next six months need to be about delivery. If both sides want to claim a genuine “new chapter” in advance of this May’s summit, the substance now must catch up with the rhetoric.