Recommendation 63

HM Government · verbatim extract Acknowledged

Improving our economic and strategic relationship with the EU remains a top government priority. We’re clear that for growth, deeper integration with the EU is within the UK’s national interest. This means reducing barriers that have stopped businesses trading and investing with our closest partner and biggest market. The Government is committed to delivering this, as set out within its manifesto. Future summits will provide us with opportunities to continue to strengthen our relationship. The Government continues to engage constructively with the EU on Private International Law matters, also known as civil judicial cooperation. In 2021, the European Commission did not consent to the UK’s application to accede to the Lugano Convention. Cooperation with the EU in this area now takes place primarily through multilateral frameworks, in particular the Hague Conference on Private International Law. A significant step in strengthening cooperation in the area of cross-border recognition of commercial judgments was the entry into force, on 1 July 2025, of the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. This applies between the UK and the EU (except Denmark), and provides that judgments within scope of the Convention handed down in one Contracting Party can be recognised and enforced in another. It offers greater certainty that UK judgments will be enforced in the EU, and vice versa, and will reduce transactional and litigation costs in relevant cross-border disputes. It will also save time in the resolution of disputes. It is the first new agreement to apply in this area of law between the UK and the EU since EU Exit. The importance of this cooperation was noted in the Common Understanding agreed at the 2025 Summit. There has been considerable uncertainty about the scope and function of the review of the implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) which is required to take place this year. Although the political summit process initiated in May 2025 has, in the Minister’s words, “overtaken” the review, we believe the latter can still play a valuable role as a technical process to help the UK and EU identify how the Agreement is being implemented in practice and where there is untapped potential within its existing provisions to improve trade and cooperation. In that way, the TCA review and the annual summits of the Strategic Partnership are complementary to one another.