LONDON — EU countries have agreed to fast-track talks on an electricity trading agreement with the U.K. — in a major win for Keir Starmer’s Brexit reset.

At a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels Wednesday morning, member states instructed the European Commission to draw up a mandate for negotiations on the subject by the end of the year.

They also approved mandates for talks on an agri-food deal to ease cross-Channel trade frictions, and to link the EU and U.K. emissions trading systems.

Negotiations in those two areas can now get underway in earnest, with London keen on a tight timetable so that Brits see the benefits of both deals as quickly as possible.

The decision came after days of wrangling in Brussels over the extent to which London might be expected to pay for access to the EU’s single market.

While all EU countries agreed that the U.K. should be asked to pay into the bloc’s “cohesion” fund — as other states like Norway accessing the single market do — some were concerned that going too hard on the demand could hold up negotiations in key areas.

In particular, member nations most keen to improve cross-channel electricity trading arrangements like Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium — dubbed the “friends of electricity” by one EU official — had pushed for caveats and softer language.

Electricity trading between Britain and the continent has become harder since Brexit, which the industry on both sides of the Channel says has resulted in higher prices and uncertainty for renewables investment in the North Sea.

In the end a compromise text was brokered by the Danish presidency of the Council overnight into Wednesday after two days of deadlocked meetings.

It committed to a swift timetable on electricity trading and included carefully crafted language on the financial contribution.

The agreed text states that “the Council and the Commission share the view that should any further agreement be concluded that provides for the United Kingdom’s participation in parts of the Union’s internal market, they will reflect upon the appropriate level of financial contribution towards reducing economic and social disparities between the regions of the Union, and that will reflect the level of the United Kingdom’s participation in the Union’s internal market.”

It adds: “We hope these talks can be pursued without delay, and we invite the Commission to recommend a mandate for negotiation on electricity trading before the end of 2025.”

‘We’ll see some drama’

The EU official quoted above said that the statement was a “guarantee to [the concerned countries] that the relevant agreement won’t be delayed.” Like others cited in this article, they were granted anonymity to speak freely about the negotiations.

The U.K. has already shown a willingness to pay for access to EU markets and programs such as the Horizon Europe science system and the SAFE rearmament fund. But talks in both areas have demonstrated the potential for delay when large amounts of money are involved.

The hope is that the position agreed in Brussels on Wednesday will mean talks can move at speed — while making clear to London that it is expected to pay for any benefits it gains.

A second person familiar with the outcome of the discussions, an EU diplomat, told POLITICO: “I think we will see a little bit [of] back and forth during the negotiation, because also that’s the British negotiation style, and we’ll see, you know, some drama.

“But I think at the end of the day, if you sit in London or sit in Westminster, and you’re looking at that text, I’m sure you’ll be thinking ‘this we can work with.’ There would be absolutely no surprises … They know us very well, we know them very well.”

The two mandates on the agri-food deal and emissions trading, which are not expected to be published in full, will be formally rubber-stamped at the next meeting of the EU’s General Affairs Council on Monday Nov. 17.

Movement on talks is likely to be welcomed on the U.K. side. Questioned about the slow progress of the reset at a Westminster committee hearing on Tuesday, the U.K.’s Trade Secretary Peter Kyle told lawmakers: “I can assure you that if there are time delays any of these [topics], they are not coming from the U.K. side.”