The UK will leave the EU on 31 January. The transition period running to December 31 means few changes in the trading relationship will be immediately noticeable, but after Boris Johnson ruled out an extension to this period, there are just 11 months to put in place a new relationship covering trade and much besides.

As we discussed in last year’s paper “Sweden, UK and the EU: Managing post-Brexit Relations and Defining a new Agenda for European Competitiveness” the UK-EU negotiation will be the most significant for this Commission. As well as defining the relationship with a former member and major trade and security partner, it will also show the EU’s direction of travel for global and neighbourhood relations.

• How can the UK and EU find a new sustainable partnership?
• What agreement is achievable and likely in 2020?
• Can the UK relationship help the EU to develop models for other neighbours?
• Will the absence of the UK mean a move towards a closed EU?

Speakers:

David Henig, director of the UK Trade Policy Project at ECIPE since 2018 after leaving the UK government

Anna Stellinger, recently joined the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise having previously led the National Board of Trade

Elvire Fabry, Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris since 2009, in charge of trade policy, globalisation and Brexit

Garvan Walshe, former advisor to the UK Conservative Party on Security Policy