The States of Guernsey’s Minister for External Relations, Deputy Steve Falla, and the Government of Jersey’s Minister for External Relations, Deputy Ian Gorst, visited Brussels on 19-20 November 2025.
They carried out a series of engagements to represent Channel Islands interests to European partners. This visit forms part of regular Channel Islands joint political engagement in Brussels with the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU member states.
During the two-day visit, Deputies Falla and Gorst met the European Parliament Co-Chair of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) enabling them to receive timely feedback on the PPA meeting in London the previous day. They also met representatives from the European Council Presidency to reiterate Channel Island interests in the EU-UK Reset process; in particular the ongoing negotiations on the EU-UK SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement, the significance of youth mobility and the relationship on energy.
Deputies also met the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Maria Luiz Albuquerque, with whom they discussed the strength of the Channel Islands’ financial services links to the EU, and their alignment with EU objectives in areas such as competitiveness, digital and sustainable finance.
The visit provided an opportunity to emphasise the breadth of the islands’ relationship with Europe and speak to existing areas of cooperation with member states; the Deputies met the German Political and Security Committee Ambassador with whom they discussed the Friendship Agreement signed last year between Guernsey and Biberach, and the islands’ interest in the recently signed UK-Germany Treaty.
Speaking after the visit, Deputy Gorst said: “It is more important than ever as opportunities arise from the UK-EU discussions on the Reset, and in the context of geo-political uncertainty, that we continue to build our relationships with European partners. Regular engagement with the EU in Brussels facilitated by the work of the Channel Islands Brussels Office across key areas of interest supports our opportunities for partnership and collaboration.”
Deputy Falla commented: “I was very pleased to take part in my first visit to Brussels in my role as Guernsey’s political lead for external relations. The visit was an important opportunity to speak with representatives in Brussels and remind them of the interests of the Channel Islands, which is particularly timely given the start of negotiations as part of the EU-UK reset which cover a number of areas of interest to us.
“Regular engagement with EU partners is an essential part of our long-standing good neighbour policy, and during these meetings I was able to elaborate on our financial services interests as well as noting the various important bilateral relationships we enjoy with EU member states.”
Pictured: Deputies Falla and Gorst with Maria Luiz Albuquerque, European Commissioner for Financial Services.
