Third meeting of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly
The third meeting of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly took place in Brussels on 3-4 July 2023, and gathered dozens of Members both from the UK and the European Parliament in what was felt as a very positive gathering, both on the content of the discussions and on the atmosphere.
This was the second meeting taking place in Brussels after the constitutive meeting on Thursday, 9 December 2021. The joint assembly also met in London on 7-8 November 2022.
The meeting was organised over two days. The first day was divided into two parts:
The first part was a plenary devoted to the state of play within the Partnership Council and the future of foreign and security policy, including in the framework of the European Political Community. Members heard updates from the Co-Chairs of the Partnership Council, Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
The second part of the session was organised in break out groups on three topics: mobility of persons, climate and energy and twinning and civil society cooperation. The main points of each group were adopted by the plenary the following day.
The second day started with an address by the President of the European Parliament. This was followed by discussions on the EU-UK common efforts to support Ukraine and sanctions, and cooperation on trade and industrial policy, including the response to the US Inflation Reduction Act. The assembly adopted a recommendation on support to Ukraine, to be sent to the EU-UK Partnership Council, and following the meeting, the Co-Chairs issued a joint statement.
All in all, the Members on both sides voiced how much they appreciated the chance to discuss topical issues and to continue to get to know each other.
We are now already looking forward to the next meeting of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, taking place in London 4-5 December.