Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)

Lord Barrow Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Barrow (CB)]

My Lords, I will seek to be quick, not just because we were advised to be so but because I find myself in former permanent representative corner, and going first in this company is a bit dangerous.

I have a few quick points, not least as a new member of the European Affairs Committee, under the martial leadership of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, with whose remarks I fully associate myself. I extend my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, for the report we have in front of us, including the clear statement that the reset is a process, not an event. When I was in Brussels talking to those missions, which were third-country missions at that time, all of them said that all meaningful third-country relationships with the EU are unfinished business, in perpetuity. In that context, I join the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, in asking the Government what their assessment is of the possibility of Ukraine’s membership of the EU and the consequences for UK interests of such a move.

I welcome the breadth of the agenda for the UK and the EU. This demonstrates a strength of ambition and good relations at the top on both sides. However, as many in this Chamber know, and as we saw with SAFE, while that is necessary at the top it is not always sufficient. Delivery will be difficult. Although we have had the welcome news on the Gibraltar negotiations, which I very much commend, that took many years—maybe that was the fault of some of us negotiating it—and we need more rapid progress.

I would therefore like the Minister to share her assessment of progress ahead of the summit in relation to two areas. The first is law enforcement co-operation, and I join everyone, including the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton, who highlighted that. It was one of the most frustrating areas of the negotiations in which I took part. There was clear, direct and mutual benefit for citizens in the UK and the EU, but we were unable to do all that I felt we could do. Can the Minister update us on possible progress, including on existing measures such as SIS II and Prüm—which the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, mentioned—or any new innovations?

The second area on which I would welcome an update is defence co-operation. What happened with SAFE was regrettable, although saying no in negotiations is sometimes as necessary, important and valuable as saying yes. I politely suggest to some of my friends in Brussels that, if your position leads to the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, leading the charge, with trenchant criticism in the media, something has gone wrong with your position. However, there is still scope for co-operation in the security area, as the noble Lord, Lord Jay, advocated. As the report notes, that includes the European Defence Agency, perhaps the Ukraine loan scheme, and even SAFE or a potential SAFE II. However, like the report, I am more sceptical about UK participation in CSDP missions under current third country rules.

As many noble Lords have said, all of this is part of a much bigger question: how will we, across Europe, respond to the present evident security challenge and what will the UK role be in that response? As was made obvious at the Munich Security Conference, Europe wants to do more, the US wants Europe to do more and Ukraine chides us for not doing more—but how is that response to be delivered? The report rightly notes consensus on NATO as the cornerstone of our defence, but are we to deliver that response through NATO mechanisms, alongside a patchwork including the coalition of the willing and maybe JEF, EU-UK co-operation and the welcome intensified E3 co-operation?

Alternatively, as others have said, should there be some new security architecture as a vehicle to galvanise and focus efforts? For instance, Carl Bildt recently advocated reviving the WEU—I am not sure whether that would be the answer that would commend itself, but the question still needs answering. I do not ask the Minister to answer it today, but we need an answer soon, not least if the UK is to play the role that we want to play in this. Can she seek to answer that question urgently, not least because this week we mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine and the terrible suffering that continues there?