What’s the price of a UK/EU security agreement? (The UK in a Changing Europe, link)
As the UK/EU negotiations enter a crunch period much of the focus, understandably, is on the future economic relationship. But there’s another area that still needs to be settled: what kind of cooperation, if any, are the two sides going to have in future on security issues?
There’s a deal to be done here, which would be in both sides’ interests. The UK has a lot to offer, and to gain, from continued cooperation with law enforcement and security authorities across 27 member states.
It’ll be very much a dialled down relationship, compared to the cooperation built up over the recent years. But it’s still worth doing.
Failure to find agreement will only help those who wish us – UK and EU – harm.
It means overcoming three hurdles: how to protect Fundamental Rights; what happens about the ECJ; and how to ensure the protection of personal data.