CER/KAS project: Navigating stormy waters: UK-EU co-operation in a shifting global landscape

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The UK and the EU are facing a geopolitical storm in 2025. Putin remains set on his goal of subjugating Ukraine and upending the European security order. China’s alliance with Russia has solidified. Across the Atlantic, Trump’s return to the presidency has added to the instability. Europeans are dealing with a situation in which the US seems unwilling to provide critical military capabilities to support Ukraine or European defence. They can ill-afford the economic spillover from the trade war the US has launched on the rest of the world.

The UK and its European partners will need to deepen their co-operation if they want to successfully navigate these challenges. This project aims to make realistic and sober recommendations for how the two sides could work more closely together, focusing on three issues:

1) Will EU enlargement create new, ‘membership-light’ models for the EU-UK relationship?

2) How are UK and EU policies towards China evolving, and can they co-ordinate their approaches more closely?

3) How much progress have the EU and the UK made in resetting relations in Labour’s first year in power and what could they do to deepen their bilateral relationship and overall co-operation?

Will EU enlargement create new models for the EU-UK relationship?

Will EU enlargement create new models for the EU-UK relationship?

Luigi Scazzieri
15 April 2025
Enlargement is pushing the EU to think creatively about how to work more closely with candidate countries before accession. The consequences for EU-UK relations could be significant.