The UK is set to warn the EU against trying to replace NATO with its own defence pact, inews.co.uk reports.
Meanwhile, newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer is negotiating a new security agreement with Brussels. He met with NATO leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the alliance’s summit in Washington. It was his first international meeting since taking office last week.
Upon arrival at the summit, Starmer stated that he wanted to “send a message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin” about “the resolve of NATO, bigger now than it’s ever been, more united than it’s ever been.”
Shortly before the event, the prime minister held one-on-one talks with Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter thanked Starmer “for the military financing packages and support.”
Leaders, including Macron, suggested the pact could make Europe safer by reducing its dependence on the United States. However, British officials privately warned EU allies against imposing additional protectionist measures on their defence industries. Starmer stated:
Because of the timing of the election, which was much discussed for other reasons, it has provided a really important window of opportunity for me and my team, because we’ve got the NATO summit within a week of the election, so we get the opportunity to strengthen our relations with various of the NATO leaders and others obviously that are there, including EU leaders.
During the summit, the Prime Minister plans to push other countries to increase their own defence spending. Currently, 23 of the 32 member governments meet the target of spending at least 2 per cent of their GDP on the armed forces. However, the UK believes this target will need to be raised in the near future.
The British and German leaders agreed that the NATO summit was an opportunity to consolidate and strengthen support for Ukraine. They agreed on a firm commitment to a deep defence agreement between the UK and Germany and “to start working together forging the agreement without delay.”
