Recommendation 50

While acknowledging the Foreign Secretary’s point that flexibility can sometimes be an advantage in responding to specific situations, we continue to believe that there would be considerable value in more structured arrangements for forward-looking cooperation between the UK and the EU in relation to longer-term challenges such as policy towards China. This would build on the successful experience of reactive cooperation with the EU since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it would complement relations with individual Member States and groups of them. To facilitate this, the Government should approach the EU with a view to establishing more regular, forward-looking formats for cooperation on major foreign and security policy issues.