United Kingdom–European Union relations in the context of EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

⭐ Core Definition: United Kingdom–European Union relations

The United Kingdom is not a member state of the European Union. Relations between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) are governed, since 1 January 2021, by the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

Relations trace back to the foundation of the European Communities, the European Union's predecessor, in 1957. The UK was a member state of the bloc after joining it in 1973 (which was confirmed in a referendum on membership in 1975) until it became the first country to voluntarily end its membership on 31 January 2020 after a second referendum on membership was held in 2016 which resulted in 51.9% of voters opting to leave.

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United Kingdom–European Union relations in the context of Erasmus+

Erasmus+ is the European Commission's programme for promoting education, training, youth, and sport for the 2021–2027 period, succeeding the previous programme (2014–2020). As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobility of learners and staff and cooperation across the education, training, and youth sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules and a structure that aims to streamline the administration of the programme. EU Member States and third countries associated with the Programme can fully take part in all the Actions of Erasmus+. The third countries associated with the Programme are North Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey.

In the EU-UK summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and the European Commission agreed to work towards the association of the UK with the Erasmus+ programme. The UK had previously opted not to take part as an associated third country in the Erasmus+ programme 2021-27 after Brexit.

View the full Wikipedia page for Erasmus+

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