PARIS – The European Union’s executive arm and the United Kingdom agreed on a security and defense partnership which they said will allow for closer cooperation in areas such as support for Ukraine, and which may open the door for U.K. companies to benefit from an EU plan to boost defense-industrial spending.
Based on the partnership, the U.K. and the European commission should “swiftly explore any possibilities for mutually beneficial enhanced cooperation” created by an EU proposal for a €150 bilion (US$169 billion) loan program for defense procurement, according to a joint statement on Monday.
Officials including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in London on Monday to repair some of the ties severed by the U.K. leaving the EU in 2020. The U.K. is home to Europe’s largest defense firm, BAE Systems, and EU plans to boost joint defense procurement within the 27-nation bloc risked leaving the British defense industry out in the cold.
“This will boost our cooperation in security and defense initiatives,” von der Leyen said in a joint press conference in London with Starmer and European Council President António Costa. “This is the first step towards U.K. participation in Europe’s defense investment program. This security and defense partnership opens the door towards the joint procurement.”
The agreement will help the EU and the U.K. boost cooperation in areas such as supporting Ukraine, security and defenses initiatives that include the defense industry, military mobility, space security, strategic consultation, cyber issues and countering hybrid threats, the parties said.
“Whether on defense, counterterrorism or building peace, we will both gain from working closer together,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top official for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a post on social media, following the meeting in London.
Beyond security and defense, the commission and the U.K. discussed issues ranging from cross-border travel for young people to energy cooperation, fishing rights, food standards, working together on law enforcement and migration.
The EU and the U.K. “face a volatile and increasingly challenging security environment in Europe and in its broader neighborhood, as demonstrated by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine,” according to the partnership agreement. “The UK and the EU share a responsibility for the security of Europe.”
The partnership will reinforce the European contribution to NATO, the agreement said. The parties will look into the possibility of setting up an “administrative arrangement” between the U.K. and the European Defence Agency, according to the 11-page document published by the Brits – or 12 pages in the EU version.
Such an arrangement, which typically governs mundane but vital guardrails for exchanging information, would be a prerequisite for including the British in existing EDA-managed development schemes.
The EU and the U.K. also plan to boost cooperation in a number of areas around maritime security, including security aspects of maritime autonomous surface vessels.
Last week, the U.K. and Germany said they’ll work together a new long-range strike capability with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers, in a move that will reinforce NATO deterrence and boost the U.K. and European defense industries.
The capability will be developed within the European Long-range Strike Approach or ELSA, the six-country coalition of France, Germany, Poland, Italy, the U.K. and Sweden, German Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius said on Thursday.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
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