Free trade agreement: economic and social partnership
The TCA establishes a new economic and social partnership with the UK, covering not just trade in goods and services, but other areas as well, such as investment, competition, State aid, tax transparency, air and road transport, energy and sustainability, fisheries, personal data protection, and social security coordination. The TCA is the first FTA ever concluded by the EU providing zero tariffs and zero quotas on all goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin.
Level playing field provisions are a crucial tenet of the agreement, whereby both parties have committed to maintaining high levels of protection in areas of the environmental protection, the fight against climate change and carbon pricing, social and labour rights, tax transparency and State aid, with effective, domestic enforcement, a binding dispute settlement mechanism and the possibility for both parties to take remedial measures.
The TCA establishes a new framework for the joint management of fish stocks in EU and UK waters.
On transport, the agreement provides for continued and sustainable air, road, rail and maritime connectivity, though market access falls below what the Single Market offers. It contains rules on competition, ensuring level playing field not to undermine passenger rights, worker’s rights and transport safety.
For energy, a new model for trading and interconnectivity has been set up, with guarantees for open and fair competition, including on safety standards for offshore, and production of renewable energy.
The TCA aims at ensuring a number of rights of EU citizens and UK nationals in the field of the social security coordination. This applies to citizens working in, travelling or moving to the other party of the TCA after 1 January 2021.
The TCA also provides for the possibility for the UK to participate in certain EU programmes subject to the adoption of bilateral protocols and financial contributions. As of 1 January 2024, the UK participates as an associated country in Horizon Europe Programme and in the Copernicus Programme.
Cooperation on Foreign Policy, Security and Defence
Despite the inclusion of EU-UK cooperation on foreign policy, external security and defence in the Political Declaration accompanying the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK government ultimately chose not to pursue negotiations on cooperation in this area within the TCA. Since January 2021, no bilateral, institutionalised framework exists through which a coordinated and unified response to foreign policy challenges can be agreed.
Nonetheless, cooperation between the EU and the UK in this area has been strong, particularly since the start of Russia’s illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. While coordination has taken place through various frameworks and on a more ad hoc basis, it has delivered a strong and unified response in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On 14 October 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy participated in the Foreign Affairs Council, with talks focussing on the main challenges facing European security. Furthermore, High Representative Borrell and UK Foreign Secretary Lammy agreed that the EU and the UK would establish a six-monthly Foreign Policy Dialogue to enable strategic cooperation on the highest priority issues of joint interest, namely on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Indo-pacific, hybrid threats and the Western Balkans.
On 3 February 2025 Prime Minister Starmer participated at a dinner with EU leaders discussing European defence and security at their informal meeting. Furthermore, the UK Prime Minister played an active role in initiating the ‘coalition of the willing’ aimed at establishing a coordinated international framework for the provision of support and assistance to Ukraine.
In its March 2025 White Paper on European Defence Readiness 2030, the European Commission recognised the UK as a key European ally and called for closer security and defence cooperation in mutual interest, including a potential Security and Defence Partnership. It emphasised opportunities to build on existing agreements and expand collaboration in areas such as crisis management and defence industrial policy.
The Parliament, in its resolution on the White Paper, recognised the need for the EU to act urgently to ensure its own autonomous security, while strengthening partnerships with likeminded partners and reducing its dependencies on non-EU countries. The Parliament insisted on the need to ensure geographical coherence by taking stock of the will of the EU and the UK, first and foremost to build security guarantees for Ukraine and become even closer security partner.
The Parliament recognises the contributions of the UK to Europe’s security and stability and welcomes the UK Government’s renewed commitment to explore closer and more lasting cooperation with the EU on foreign policy and security.
In today’s geopolitical situation, the benefits of coordination between close geographical neighbours with shared democratic values are more evident than ever. Strengthening such cooperation not only reinforces mutual security and resilience, but also opens the door to developing a more structured cooperation, focused on achieving common.
On the procedure
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is based on Article 217 (Part five: The Union’s external action, Title V: International Agreements), in conjunction with Article 218 (Part five: External action by the Union, Title IV: Restrictive measures), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The TCA is unprecedented in terms of international agreements, due to its scope and complexity. Article 776 of the TCA puts an obligation for the parties to jointly review the implementation of the Agreement and supplementing agreements as well as any matters related thereto five years after its entry into force, and every five years thereafter.
Parliament therefore has developed a comprehensive, effective and transparent scrutiny process of the TCA, while ensuring a coherent and unified approach. Implementation reports on international agreements must take due account of the availability of reliable facts regarding the state of implementation of the relevant legislation. Effective scrutiny relies on the knowledge and expertise of all involved committees in accordance with their responsibilities and working practices.
The monitoring of the TCA’s implementation is carried out by the Committees in a coordinated and inclusive manner, in full respect of their competences as laid out in Annex VI of the Rules of Procedure. The report is the second evaluation by the European Parliament of the implementation of the TCA, since its provisional application from 1 January 2021 and entry into force on 1 May 2021. Since the entry into force, the Commission has published four implementation reports of the agreement for the years 2021 to 20242 .
The report aims to take stock of the main issues linked to the implementation of the TCA, its satisfactory aspects and areas where implementation work needs to begin, and where work needs to continue, also highlighting elements which require continuous monitoring and scrutiny, including through the civil society and in particular, the domestic advisory group’s involvement.
The report has been elaborated in an inclusive manner by involving parliamentary committees in the broadest possible terms and recognising the particular sectorial expertise of each committee. Notably, ten parliamentary committees have been associated to the procedure under Rule 57 of the Rules of Procedure, namely BUDG, ECON, EMPL, ENVI, ITRE, IMCO, TRAN, PECH, CULT and LIBE. On 8 April 2025, the joint AFET -INTA committee held a public hearing ‘The implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement’ with the participation of four experts and the Commission.
