UK-EU ‘reset’ summit may still happen next month despite delay speculation

EU’s Maroš Šefčovič says summit will ‘probably’ be in July but sources say it could be put back as talks deadlocked

The EU has said Keir Starmer’s upcoming summit “resetting” the UK-Europe relationship may still happen in July, amid growing fears it could be postponed to the autumn as talks over youth mobility remain deadlocked.

“The summit is supposed to be mid-July but at the moment it could be put back to after the summer,” said one EU diplomat.

“There is common concern that momentum is being lost. Negotiations always continue until the moment the clock stops and then you have a text the next morning, but because there is no deadline, the pressure is off,” the source added.

Speaking at a conference in Brussels, the EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said: “I believe that still the expectation is that we would have the summit, most probably in July.”

Asked if talks were deadlocked on a scheme to allow under-30s to travel freely on a three-year visa scheme for youth, he said it was one of the top three issues, and one that EU ministers cared deeply about.

Describing a recent meeting of 27 European ministers, he said: “When we were discussing the relationship with the UK, 20 ministers took the floor and said how the youth experience is important for them. So I think this is something what I see as an investment into the future.”

Šefčovič added that his second daughter studied in the UK, “she has all the university friends from there, she speaks much better English than I do, she can do the British accent excellently”.