EU-UK defense pact saves the hard part for later

LONDON — Britain and the European Union have agreed to cooperate more closely on support for Ukraine, while promising a further deal allowing U.K. companies to benefit from an EU plan to boost defense spending.

The partnership struck by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Monday’s summit in London says the two sides will “swiftly explore” the potential for the U.K. to gain access to a €150 billion loan program for defense procurement.

The Commission’s fund allows states within the bloc to jointly procure weapons but is closed to non-EU countries that do not have a defense deal with the EU. 

Both sides raised expectations that a further agreement on admitting British firms to the program would be agreed shortly, with von der Leyen specifying it could come within “only a few weeks.” 

“This will boost our cooperation in security and defense initiatives,” the Commission chief told a press conference. “This is the first step towards U.K. participation in Europe’s defense investment program. This security and defense partnership opens the door towards joint procurement.”

British officials later confirmed that the U.K. would be expected to pay for access to the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program.

The prime minister’s spokesman said: “We have to work hard to get to the second step negotiated,” and details of the U.K.’s financial contribution would be for the next stage of the talks.

French resistance

Negotiations among governments have been slowed down by divisions on the extent of cooperation in procurement with external allies such as London, with France seen as one of the countries which is more resistant to British participation.

French concerns center on the impact which the entry of British firms could have on its own defense industry.

Ed Arnold, senior research fellow at the defense think tank RUSI, said the lack of concrete measures in the new partnership showed that “even on something such as defense and security, whereby the second Trump administration should be pushing them very, very close together, it's just not quite happening that way.”

He added that it showed “disagreements remain, despite all of the language used about close alignment.”

Shadow Defense Secretary James Cartlidge posted on X: “They’ve surrendered our fishing grounds for 12 years in exchange for no guaranteed defence funding. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.”

However, Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, congratulated the government: “It's in our clear mutual interest to have a formalized security and defense partnership, and the British defense industry needs to play a role in restructuring European defense.”

She had previously criticized ministers’ approach to the negotiations as “lacking vision.”

Supporting Kyiv

Elsewhere, the security and defense partnership committed to strengthening collaboration in support of Ukraine, particularly on the coordination of sanctions against Russia.

The EU and the U.K. also resolved to boost their ties on maritime security, information-sharing, military mobility, space security, cyber issues and countering hybrid threats.

Senior representatives from the U.K. and EU will meet every six months to talk about defence and foreign policy, the agreement stated.

The pact on defense formed part of a wider-ranging deal which Starmer has hailed as a “reset” of Britain’s relationship with the EU after the angst wrought by the Brexit vote. 

British food exports to the EU will now be sped through borders, while European fishing boats will be granted a further 12 years of access to British waters.

Two U.K. officials, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Defense Secretary John Healey had played a key role in edging the broader deal over the line by leveraging goodwill towards the U.K. on defense and security.