Changes from plenary report to adopted text

237. Welcomes the Commission’s conclusion, in its 2024 implementation report, that the TCA’s implementation in relation to law enforcement and judicial cooperation functioned smoothly over the past year;

238. Welcomes, in particular, the fact that, by the end of 2024, all Member States and the UK had granted each other access to their national DNA databases for automated searching, in line with Article 530 TCA; welcomes the fact that, by the end of 2024, the UK had made 22 fingerprint connections and was ready to finalise the remaining five; acknowledges the ambition of the Common Understanding for the parties to reinforce mutual and reciprocal exchanges of data on fingerprints, DNA and criminal records of non-EU country nationals and to explore the extension of data exchange to facial images for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences, while underlining that existing and extended exchanges depend on maintaining a high standard of data protection and ensuring that the UK’s evolving legal framework remains compatible with EU data protection requirements;

239. Recalls the mutual benefit of and the need for strong law enforcement and judicial cooperation to tackle shared challenges in areas such as counterterrorism operations, organised crime, money laundering and human smuggling and trafficking; stresses, in this regard, that the EU and the UK must formulate concrete cooperation initiatives in these areas; welcomes the UK’s close cooperation with key EU agencies such as Europol, Eurojust and Frontex;

240. Welcomes the fact that the UK Government has increased the presence of the UK National Crime Agency at Europol and that it is working, in a broader sense, towards a closer relationship with Europol, including on the ability to share data in real time;

241. Takes note of the 2023 and 2024 Eurojust annual reports and expresses its satisfaction as regards the UK’s participation and involvement in the agency’s work, with the UK being the non-EU country most frequently requested to participate in new cases opened by National Desks at Eurojust in both years;

242. Welcomes the conclusion of a working arrangement between Frontex and the UK’s Home Office in 2024 based on the joint commitment to enhance safety and security, while upholding fundamental rights obligations; trusts that this arrangement will enhance cooperation on border management and security, including the deployment of staff for advisory and coordination duties;

243. Encourages closer cooperation between the European Migration Network and agencies, including the EU Agency for Asylum and Frontex, and respective UK authorities, in line with the commitments made in the Common Understanding; welcomes the reference in the Common Understanding to cooperation in the fight against drugs; encourages the conclusion of a working arrangement on the reciprocal exchange of information between the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) and the relevant UK authorities on drugs risks and threats, in order to facilitate the EUDA’s tasks; considers that the UK’s participation in some meetings between the Latin American Committee on Internal Security and its EU counterparts could be considered on a case-by-case basis;

244. Notes the shared challenges that the UK and the EU face in terms of illegal migration; expresses its strong support for the parties’ commitment to closer cooperation in multilateral forums and processes to counter migrant smuggling and human trafficking, the sharing of operational information on returns to third countries, and the exploration of deterrence mechanisms, in line with national, EU and international law, while maintaining their commitment to ensuring international protection for those who need it; calls on the Commission and the UK Government to ensure that any cooperation on migration with third countries should include appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the international legal framework, such as the right of asylum;

245. Notes that the new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill introduced to the UK Parliament on 30 January 2025 provides for the possibility to conclude agreements with G7 countries and key European partners to counter smuggling; welcomes the UK’s desire to work more closely with individual Member States, including France and the other members of the Calais Group, on fighting people smuggling and human trafficking, and more broadly on strengthening border security, including border surveillance;

246. Recalls that the extradition system between the Member States and the UK, as laid down in Title VII of Part Three of the TCA, differs from the one provided for by the Council Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant; recalls that in its recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that the executing judicial authority must undertake an independent examination of the risk of a breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which the person concerned claims to run if they are surrendered to the UK;

247. Recalls that Part Three of the TCA allows for extended data flows between the EU and the UK, such as the exchange of DNA data, passenger name record data and criminal record information; underlines, therefore, that it is of the utmost importance that the UK ensures that the level of protection is essentially equivalent to that afforded by the EU in order to avoid putting EU standards and therefore EU citizens’ fundamental rights at risk when sharing data with the UK;

248. Calls on the UK and the Member States to keep citizens’ rights a key joint priority in EU-UK relations, ensuring that all EU and UK citizens who are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement can fully enjoy their rights; notes with satisfaction the renewal of the EU’s and the UK’s shared commitment to the full, timely and faithful implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement in all its parts; welcomes the legislative step taken by the UK Government relating to legal clarity for EU citizens with status under the EU Settlement Scheme and trusts it will ensure a smooth transition for citizens from temporary to permanent residence over the course of the next two years; points out that the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens Rights’ Agreements identified data sharing between the EU and UK as an area that can cause delays in applications to the EU Settlement Scheme, in cases where Member States hold information relevant to the application; calls therefore on the Commission and Member State authorities to increase responsiveness to requests and ensure better information exchange between the UK and EU Member States and the EEA EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) to prevent delays and ensure a smooth application process for citizens;

Cooperation on foreign and security policy

249. Highlights the good and pragmatic coordination between the EU and the UK on foreign and security policy to ensure stability and prosperity in other regions of the world and calls for the EU and the UK to strengthen their cooperation with other like-minded partners; commends the significant contribution of the UK to peace, security and stability in Europe; underscores the fact that peace in Europe is not possible without a strong partnership between the EU and the UK on foreign and security policy; welcomes the participation of the UK in the European Political Community;

250. Warmly welcomes the EU-UK Security and Defence Partnership as a key framework for broad EU-UK cooperation in the fields of security and defence, jointly addressing common threats and covering areas including information and intelligence sharing, military mobility, security and defence initiatives, space security, crisis management, cyber defence, hybrid threats, counterterrorism, foreign manipulation of information and interference;

251. Underlines the existential threat posed by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its threats to expand this aggression to other countries of the European continent; considers this to be the single most important threat facing our continent in the coming years, notwithstanding the importance of other issues; calls for a commensurate policy response that gives priority to addressing the gaps in European defence and deterrence capabilities, especially in cooperation with like-minded European partners;

252. Welcomes the strong EU-UK cooperation in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as underscored at the EU-UK Summit; highlights the continued alignment of the EU and the UK on sanctions, military and financial support and diplomatic coordination, as well as their shared commitment to restoring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the principles of international law, justice and accountability; calls for the EU and the UK to remain strongly united towards the rest of the international community in condemning Russia’s actions, defending the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine, and in countering Russian disinformation about its war of aggression against Ukraine, and to continue their efforts towards achieving the broadest possible international support for these matters; commends the UK’s vital contribution to shaping a strong, unified European response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and in convening the ‘coalition of the willing’; welcomes the UK’s contribution to supporting Ukraine’s future repair and reconstruction; while respecting Member States’ military and security policies, including policies of military neutrality; calls on the UK Government and all the Member States to significantly increase military assistance for Ukraine and to lift all restrictions on such assistance; recommends, in that regard, that actions undertaken in the framework of the SAFE Regulation by both the Member States and the UK also include Ukraine and its defence technology and industrial base;

253. Commends the UK’s firm approach to introducing and maintaining ever stricter sanctions and its leading role in the ‘Call to Action’ coalition aimed at disrupting the Russian shadow fleet; welcomes the reinforced EU-UK cooperation on sanctions against Russia and its shadow fleet, as highlighted at the EU-UK Summit; calls for further coherent and coordinated strengthening by the EU and the UK of their respective sanctions regimes to ensure maximum impact and prevent circumvention of sanctions in order to exercise further economic and political pressure on the Russian authorities, especially in view of the latter’s effective sabotage of the ceasefire and any meaningful peace negotiations; urges the EU to match UK sanctions in relation to Ukraine and vice versa, in particular imposing sanctions on all remaining known and unsanctioned shadow fleet tankers and their owners, as well as insurance brokers and providers, while introducing sanctions on any oil tanker breaching the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and enforcing strict implementation of measures prohibiting vessels, regardless of their flag, from sailing in EU and UK waters or entering any EU or UK port if they do not comply with the international rules on ship-to-ship transfers at sea or have illegally switched off their automatic identification systems; urges both parties to ban ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil in their waters; encourages further cooperation and information sharing in order to identify and track suspicious vessels or behaviour, establish and maintain stringent maritime safety and security standards and enforce maritime law;

254. Calls for the EU and the UK to ensure that immobilised Russian state assets can be used to support Ukraine’s defence, reconstruction and reparations through confiscation or any other necessary legal means;

256. Invites the Commission to swiftly explore any possibilities for mutually beneficial enhanced cooperation created by the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument; calls on the Commission to provide Parliament with full information as soon as possible on the conditions and details of any financial contribution to be provided by the UK; calls for the involvement of Parliament in the adoption of the agreement in accordance with Article 218(6)(a) TFEU;

257. Considers that the UK’s leading role in the Joint Expeditionary Force is essential for the future of European security and encourages continued political, financial, operational and logistical cooperation between Member States and the UK Armed Forces in this regard;

258. Underlines that the UK is a leading European defence actor with distinct expertise and advanced strategic capabilities; recognises the strength of its defence industrial base, particularly in the areas identified by the EU’s Readiness 2030 initiative and the European Defence Industrial Strategy as critical capability gaps, including integrated, multilayered air and missile defence, advanced artillery, long-range missile systems, and unmanned systems; acknowledges the deep links, complementarities and synergies between the European defence technological and industrial base and the UK’s defence technological and industrial base in pursuing shared security objectives by developing new collaborative arrangements in areas such as ballistic and hypersonic missile defence, space-based sensor systems, and early warning networks; calls for the EU, its Member States and the UK to make additional efforts to deepen cooperation between these industrial sectors and to strengthen the geographical coherence of a common European defence industrial base, which also incorporates Ukraine, including in the area of innovation and joint research and development; welcomes efforts by Member States and the UK and their defence industries to invest in and partner with the Ukrainian defence industry, and calls on them to intensify such efforts, in particular through the establishment of joint ventures and by building up production capacity both in Ukraine and in Member States; underlines that the strength of the EU defence industrial base can equally contribute to enhancing the UK’s security;

259. Urges the EU and the UK to work towards the appropriate inclusion of the UK in relevant EU defence initiatives, such as the European Defence Fund (EDF), the European Defence Investment Programme (EDIP), European defence industry reinforcement through common procurement act (EDIRPA), and Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects, as well as future EU defence programmes; welcomes the announcement of the Security and Defence Partnership that it will explore the possibility of establishing an administrative arrangement between the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the UK; calls on the EDA and the UK to pursue such an arrangement as a matter of priority in order to further practical cooperation;

260. Highlights the links between the defence industries of the UK and those of the Member States, including critical joint ventures; recognises the Drone Coalition, a jointly led UK-Latvian initiative comprising 17 Member States, as a positive example of collaboration on essential advanced capability development; regrets that the EU-UK Security and Defence Partnership does not fully address the issue of maximising synergies and complementarity between the two industrial bases; calls for both parties to urgently deepen defence industrial cooperation, in particular on key capabilities such as strategic enablers, through a roadmap for defence industrial cooperation;

261. Recalls that both the EU and the UK face major hybrid threats and interference from malicious actors, in particular – but not exclusively – Russia; welcomes the fact that cooperation on countering hybrid threats, including foreign information manipulation and interference and cybersecurity were identified as important areas of cooperation at the EU-UK Summit; commends the cyber dialogue held between the EU and the UK under the TCA; encourages both the UK and the EU to deepen existing beneficial collaboration and information sharing on harmonised definitions and detection of the threats, early identification and coordination of responses to hybrid campaigns, a more common approach to deterrence strategies against cyberthreats, building cyber resilience and cyber capacity, as well as the exchange of good practice to ensure the security and resilience of our democratic societies, including in the EU candidate countries;

262. Welcomes the commitment to strengthen cooperation on the exchange of situational awareness information, including classified information; reiterates the importance of EU-UK coordination and cooperation on military training, information and intelligence sharing, and counterterrorism operations, which are essential to European security; regrets, however, that the Security and Defence Partnership does not mention intelligence exchange; welcomes the joint commitment to reinforcing military mobility, including the completion of the TEN-T network and dual-use infrastructure upgrades; highlights the need to prioritise digitalisation at border crossings and in transport infrastructure to speed up administrative procedures, and to tackle regulatory differences and infrastructural inadequacies, which continue to pose significant obstacles to the rapid movement of troops and equipment; recalls that this enhanced EU-UK cooperation on military mobility should also be implemented within the NATO framework by improving regulatory aspects, conducting joint exercises between Member States and the UK, and exchanging information on infrastructure requirements;

263. Welcomes the deeper coordination on maritime security as a key issue for the Security and Defence Partnership, given the urgent need to bolster the security of critical infrastructure, including energy and communications, and to ensure freedom of navigation; underlines the strategic importance of the Security and Defence Partnership for the maritime transport sector, particularly in enhancing the resilience of critical transport infrastructure, countering hybrid threats and strengthening cybersecurity, including in the area of maritime autonomous surface ships; calls for close coordination on ship and port facility protection through the consistent and harmonised implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code; underlines the need for continuous coordination on responses to the Russian shadow fleet, stressing that information exchange should be operational and up-to-date to allow both the Member States and the UK to react in a timely manner;

264. Welcomes the commitment by both parties to enhance cooperation in key areas such as maritime security in the Red Sea, a lasting and just peace in the Middle East, the stabilisation of situations in the Sahel, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the Western Balkans, as well as cooperation in the Arctic; welcomes the commitment made at the EU-UK Summit to deepen cooperation in these areas through more structured dialogue and joint actions, including through cooperation and coordination on the ground; encourages, the EU and the UK, therefore, to make full use of the strategic consultations in the Strategic Defence Partnership on Russia/Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, the Western Balkans, and hybrid threats;

265. Calls for the EU and the UK to strengthen international peace and stability, including by developing joint strategies to strengthen UN peacekeeping efforts and crisis management; calls for both parties to promote a culture of peace and dialogue as a means of conflict prevention, conflict management and conflict resolution, and as a means of supporting women’s and gender rights; supports the continuation of current cooperation in these areas; calls for systematic preferential cooperation in peacekeeping operations; regrets that the UK’s participation in common security and defence policy missions such as EU Althea or Atalanta ceased with Brexit and calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Member States and the UK authorities to take action to restore the UK’s participation as a means of practical implementation of the Security and Defence Partnership; calls for enhanced cooperation between the EU and the UK on matters related to democratic development, reform processes and democratic parliamentary practices in third countries, including election observation; welcomes the common will to strengthen consular cooperation in order to improve consular crisis response;

266. Underlines the importance of the rules-based order, including full respect for and adherence to international law, including the UN Charter, international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as well as multilateralism; welcomes the reaffirmation of a shared commitment thereto at the EU-UK Summit and calls for continued joint efforts to uphold and strengthen this order in the face of growing global instability; calls for increased support to ensure the smooth functioning of multinational and regional forums and institutions, especially those affected by recent geopolitical shifts, for instance the ICC as a cornerstone of the system of international justice, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or the UN Human Rights Council;

267. Welcomes the recent commitment by the EU and the UK, set out in the Common Understanding, to establish a regular dialogue on development cooperation and to strengthen collaboration in international disaster response and humanitarian assistance;

268. Commends the UK’s continued support for Euro-Atlantic integration, and the stability and prosperity of the six countries of the Western Balkans, including its engagement in the Berlin Process; calls for further EU-UK cooperation in pursuing shared policy and security objectives in the wider eastern European neighbourhood, including the Black Sea region and the Western Balkans, based on shared situational awareness, in particular in supporting the territorial integrity, sovereignty, stability and democratic resilience of the EU candidate states; recommends taking stock of the lessons learned from 25 years of engagement in the Western Balkans, with a renewed focus on ensuring tangible progress and transformative reforms that will accelerate the countries’ progress towards EU membership and contribute to a more secure future for Europe; recognises the joint EU-UK role in upholding the Dayton Peace Agreement and its annexes;

269. Calls for the EU and the UK to work together towards lasting peace in the Middle East, including supporting a political transition and the protection of all minorities in Syria and fighting impunity of all parties responsible for violations of international humanitarian law in Syria; welcomes the long-standing cooperation and commitments by the EU and the UK to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza and urgently calls for the release of any remaining hostages, as well as commitment to a two-state solution with two sovereign, democratic states living side by side in peace and guaranteed security, and with full respect for international law;

270. Urges the EU and the UK to swiftly implement and build on the establishment of the Security and Defence Partnership by fully unlocking its potential through concrete commitments and actions to achieve its full scope and benefits, including through an interinstitutional framework under the EU-UK Partnership Council and the EU-UK Foreign Policy Dialogue; notes that the budgetary and regulatory conditions of the partnership still need to be negotiated, taking into account the importance of the decision-making autonomy of the EU;

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271. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of the United Kingdom.