UK and EU continue talks over Euratom

Monday, 26 June 2023

Euratom - the European Atomic Energy Community - was established by the European Coal and Steel Community, which was a forerunner of the EU. Euratom provides the basis for the regulation of civilian nuclear activity, implements a system of safeguards to monitor the use of civil nuclear materials, controls the supply of materials within EU member states, and funds leading international research.

The UK became a member when it joined what became the EU in 1973. But the UK's 2016 referendum saw people voting by 51.9% to 48.1% in favour of leaving the EU, with a departure from Euratom included in the terms agreed for Brexit.

According to the UK's Institute for Government the UK decided to leave because "although Euratom is separate from the EU, it is governed by many of its institutions including the European Commission and sits under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice" and the Euratom Treaty requires members to ensure 'freedom of employment' for nuclear specialists by 'abolish[ing] all restrictions based on nationality'. Continued membership ran up against Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s ‘red lines’", in the Brexit negotiations.

The subsequent UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, outlining the UK's future relationship with the European Union from 1 January 2021, made provision for the UK's participation "as an associated country of all parts of the Euratom programme". However, differences between the UK and the EU over aspects of the wider future relations agreement - notably issues relating to the border on the island of Ireland - meant that the UK's association in the various research bodies was effectively put on hold until the Windsor Agreement in February saw the UK and EU reaching agreement on the Northern Ireland border issues.

That breakthrough was welcomed by many in the research community. Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, speaking in early March, said: "The removal of this political roadblock must now lead to the rapid confirmation of UK association to Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom, as set out in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Full association with Horizon continues to be best outcome for both the UK, and for our research partners across Europe and beyond. We urge all sides to start the necessary talks now so that association can take effect as soon as the Framework is implemented."

However, more than three months on there has yet to be an agreement on the UK's participation or rejoining of the programmes, notably Horizon Europe, which has a budget of EUR95 billion (USD104 billion) for 2021-2027.

A European Commission spokesperson noted to World Nuclear News that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on 27 February this year that the Windsor Framework "is good news for scientists and researchers in the European Union and in the UK”. They added that "we continue to recognise the mutual benefit of cooperation in science, research and innovation. Our agreement on the Windsor Framework allows us to deepen our cooperation in these fields, while reflecting the terms agreed under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. We are working on the UK’s association to certain Union programmes. This would allow the UK to join Horizon Europe and the other Union programmes immediately".

The spokesperson added that the commission had already informed the UK that it would not be required to contribute for the period it wasn’t associated to these programmes, namely 2021 and 2022.

On Euratom, the spokesperson said "there is no budget as such for Euratom but the Multiannual Financial Framework (the overall EU budget) includes various separate Euratom budget lines, including for the Euratom Research and Training Programme as well as for fusion. Those budget lines mainly focused on nuclear safety and the decommissioning of nuclear plants and its specific programme. The budget for the Euratom Research and Training Programme is EUR1.38 billion (USD1.5 billion) for the period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025. This amount is adequately covered by the EU budget, as potential contributions from the UK and the countries previously associated to the programme were not taken into account when adopting the programme".

The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has been looking into the issue, and has raised its concerns with the UK government. In response, in a letter sent on 5 April, Andrew Bowie, minister for nuclear and networks at the Department for Energy Securioty and Net Zero, said "the lack of progress on Euratom Research & Training association is frustrating, especially given the importance of fusion".

Bowie added: "We welcome the EU's recent openness to discussions, following two years of delays. The EU have not yet made any proposals to address the financial terms of UK association, given we are now two years into a 7-year programme."

He said the UK would continue to "put the interests of businesses and researchers across the UK first so they can take forward ground-breaking research and drive forward innovation with their international partners", and said he would provide further updates in "due course" on "the actions we are taking to break this impasse".

In a separate response to the business and science committees of the House of Commons, sent on 17 April, the UK's Science, Innoivation and Technology Secretary, Michelle Donelan, said the UK government was committed to science and research collaboration and had agreed to participate in the EU programmes under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (on the future relationship between the UK and the EU) but "despite the UK making every effort to unlock progress ... our association has been delayed for almost two years".

Donelan said that at the Partnership Council meeting on 24 March, the UK and the EU "noted their openness to taking forward discussions on the UK's association in the coming weeks" and said she had met with EU commissioner Mariya Gabriel to discuss research collaboration and "we are now discussing this matter with the EU, and hope our negotiations will be successful. That is our preference. But association would need to be on the basis of a good deal for the UK's researchers, businesses and taxpayers".

She added that, given the UK had missed two years of involvement, "association to Horizon Europe would have to be on fair and appropriate terms. Likewise, with regards to Euratom and Copernicus, discussions must also reflect that UK organisations have had little to no access to these programmes over this period".

In her letter to the MPs' committees, she added that "if we are not able to secure association to Horizon Europe on fair and appropriate terms, we will implement Pioneer, our bold, ambitious alternative" which would receive "the same amount of funding as the UK would have paid to associate to Horizon had we associated from 2021 to 2027" - GBP14.6 billion (USD18.5 billion). She added: "Similarly, as an alternative to Euratom if we cannot reach fair and appropriate terms for association, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been working closing with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to design an ambitious expansion of activity to support the UK fusion strategy, including support for both private and public sector projects."

In response to World Nuclear News' request for an update on the current situation, a government spokesperson said: "We are moving forward with discussions on the UK's involvement in EU research programmes, but we will not be providing a running commentary on these discussions. We have a bold and ambitious set of related measures we would implement should association not be agreed. We will publish details in due course."