Mr De Croo in Downing St: “Agreement to take us back to pre-Brexit situation”

"This will be a huge step forward," the Belgian leader explained. "It is the first time there will be cooperation between the UK and a European country at this level. Actually, we are going back to the pre-Brexit situation, where we can share information as we did before," Mr De Croo noted.

Negotiations with London began in October 2022 and are expected to be concluded in the coming weeks. The agreement should re-establish a solid legal framework for intelligence sharing and close cooperation between police forces, including for Eurostar security.

Mr De Croo said the agreement illustrates that relations with Britain's neighbours remain of great importance even after the UK left the European Union in January 2020. Trade volumes are not yet what they used to be, but they are recovering, and on energy, there are tangible plans for a second submarine electricity cable between Belgium and the UK.

UK and EU response to Red Sea crisis "complementary"

Also geopolitically, "in this turbulent world" there is a lot of coordination to be done with London, Mr De Croo believes. He spoke with Mr Sunak on the situation in the Red Sea, where ongoing attacks by Houthi rebels on merchant ships threaten to impact the economy and prices.

The UK and the US are responding offensively and on Monday resumed attacks on rebel infrastructure in Yemen. Meanwhile, the European Union also wants to launch its own mission. Belgium is willing to participate. Initially with liaison officers and, in the slightly longer term, with the frigate Louise-Marie.

In Downing Street Mr De Croo expressed understanding for the US-UK military operations but stressed that the European mission is "a defensive operation to protect our ships". "Our participation is complementary to what the United States and the United Kingdom are doing," he concluded.