UK and Belgium set 2026 goals on energy, security
The UK Government and Belgium have issued a joint statement setting a fuller plan for working together. It sits under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and the Renewed Agenda for EU-UK Cooperation agreed on 19 May 2025. The approach is to keep talking, recognise different institutions in each country, and involve Belgium’s federal and regional authorities within their existing powers.
As close neighbours and NATO allies, both countries renew support for Ukraine and say that backing will continue. They will run joint exercises, share expertise on new threats like cyber and electronic warfare, and consult regularly on global security challenges. Protecting the North Sea’s pipelines, cables and wind farms is a clear priority, using the NorthSeal Platform and working through the JEF+ mechanism and other defence industry partnerships. In short, security in northern Europe is a shared job.
Public safety and organised crime are a major thread. The plan is to strengthen work against terrorism, violent extremism, people smuggling, drug trafficking and illicit finance. Both sides will build on a Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement (LECA), with a view to signing it in 2026, and use EUROPOL, INTERPOL and the Prüm system to move data more quickly and lawfully. Ports will be reinforced as critical hubs, and, as fellow International Maritime Organization Council members, they will push on safety, security and decarbonisation. They also commit to crisis preparedness, resilience and closer judicial cooperation to help investigations and prosecutions of serious crime.
Migration is framed around prevention and tackling the criminal business model. Expect more technology and operational improvements at Zeebrugge, more information-sharing, and joint work with EU members and with countries of origin and transit through the regional Calais Group and wider partnerships. Communications campaigns in source countries and joint investigations are part of the plan to disrupt routes upstream. Both countries restate support for the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) while arguing their legal frameworks must deter exploitation and protect the public interest. The balance between enforcement and rights will be closely watched.
On trade and growth, the goal is to reduce friction within the TCA and the Renewed Agenda. The statement highlights cooperation in defence, life sciences, biopharma, energy, technology and agrifood, and recognises that temporary mobility matters for business and research – short visits for meetings, training or lab work. With ports treated as global gateways, the two sides will explore autonomous shipping and open a deeper dialogue on economic security, including screening foreign direct investment in strategic sectors, diversifying supply chains and protecting critical infrastructure. They will also keep working together on fiscal and tax matters, sharing information while respecting the autonomy of central banks.
Customs cooperation is due to tighten. The aim is simpler procedures and clearer, targeted guidance, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. For smaller firms, that should mean fewer surprises at the border and a better sense of what paperwork is actually required when shipping to or from Belgium.
Research, innovation and health security come with practical promises. The focus includes pharmaceuticals, life sciences, AI, semiconductors and engineering biology, with universities central to linking teams on both sides. Exchanges can run through programmes such as Horizon Europe and bilateral projects. Health cooperation covers resilient medicine supply chains via the EU Critical Medicines Alliance, pandemic readiness with the World Health Organization, and closer work on clinical trials, medical devices and digital health so care is more effective and accessible.
Energy security arrives with concrete tasks. The UK and Belgium will update their February 2022 memorandum on energy cooperation, ensure existing interconnectors run smoothly and keep discussing Nautilus, a planned undersea electricity interconnector between the two countries. They plan annual discussions on security of supply, biennial bilateral energy dialogues, more joint work through the North Sea Summit, and exploration of low-carbon hydrogen.
There is a clear 2026 marker: both sides aim in the first half of that year to conclude an arrangement under the London Protocol so carbon dioxide can move across borders for permanent geological storage. They also want to establish green shipping corridors between UK and Belgian ports to cut emissions from maritime trade, and to explore options for cooperation on nuclear energy for reliable, low-carbon power.
Because Belgium is a federal state, this cooperation involves its federal government, the Governments of Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, plus the French and German-speaking Communities. The statement stresses that none of this changes who is responsible for what; it coordinates action within the division of competences that already exists.
If you are studying how international cooperation actually works, notice the tools named here. The TCA is the post-Brexit treaty that still frames UK-EU trade and security work. EUROPOL and INTERPOL are the agencies that help police forces connect cases across borders. Prüm lets countries match fingerprints, DNA and vehicle data. The ECHR is the human rights convention setting minimum protections across Europe. JEF refers to the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force; ‘JEF+’ is a format linked to that group for wider collaboration.
What this means for you now is more coordination rather than brand-new law. Watch the 2026 milestones: the proposed law-enforcement agreement, the CO2 storage arrangement and progress on the Nautilus cable. Also look for practical signs at ports, in data-sharing safeguards and in research exchanges. According to the UK Government’s statement with Belgium, the direction of travel is to make cross-border work faster and safer while keeping rights and due process in view.