IT HAS TAKEN a long time, but at last Britain is ready to sign up as an associate member of the EU’s £85bn ($106bn) 2021-27 Horizon research programme. It will rejoin in January. It is also preparing to join a satellite observation scheme called Copernicus, but has decided to remain outside of a third one, the EU’s Euratom nuclear programme.

The principle of associate membership of Horizon was agreed upon in the Brexit treaty signed by Boris Johnson, then Britain’s prime minister, in December 2020. But negotiations on the details stalled because of a dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol, which regulates trade between Great Britain and the province. In February Rishi Sunak, Mr Johnson’s successor-but-one, settled this with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, through an accord called the Windsor framework. She said an agreement on Horizon should follow swiftly.

But it has taken months of argument over money for the deal to be done. Mr Sunak may have worried about being seen in his Conservative Party as soft towards Europe. A bigger concern was whether joining Horizon would be good value for money (for a time Britain aired the possibility of a Britain-only research scheme). In the event, it has been agreed that Britain should not pay for the three years it has missed out on. It has also received assurances about not paying in much more than it will get out. Even so, the deal requires the assent of EU member countries, some of which may choose to reopen the argument over money.

Scientists and researchers on all sides were quick to express their delight. Belonging to Horizon gives British scientists certainty over sources of funding for research. British universities and laboratories are admired across Europe, which is why, before Brexit, the country was usually a net beneficiary from Horizon. Some observers also hailed a new mood of closer collaboration with the EU after years of squabbling. Still, that a deal that benefits both sides took so long to reach bodes ill for settling other niggling disputes, at least so long as Mr Sunak’s government remains in power.

This applies, for instance, to hopes for a better deal for mobility around Europe for musicians and others; a desire for a veterinary agreement that might improve cross-border trade in food; or the wish of many British universities to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus student-exchange programme. In all such cases Mr Sunak is likely to object either to the principle of alignment with EU rules or to the potential cost.

A more immediate concern is a provision in the Brexit deal under which, from next January, tariffs must be charged on electric vehicles traded across the English Channel unless they can prove that a big share of their components, including batteries, was produced in Britain or the EU. In principle, carmakers on both sides want such tariffs to be deferred for now. But it may prove harder to agree to this than it was to settle the deal over Horizon. ■