Britain
and Germany team up on defense as fears grow Trump will ditch Ukraine
Britain’s
new Labour government is seeking deeper military ties with Germany and France.
Concerns
that Washington could dramatically rein in support for Ukraine next year have
only increased since Republican candidate Trump picked JD Vance as his running
mate |
JULY 24,
2024 2:30 PM CET
BY JOSHUA
POSANER AND NETTE NÖSTLINGER
BERLIN —
Europe's two largest donors of military aid to Ukraine — Germany and Britain —
are buddying up in a defense pact as fears grow that a victory for Donald Trump
in November's U.S. election could spell disaster for European security.
Concerns
that Washington could dramatically rein in support for Ukraine next year have
only increased since Republican candidate Trump picked JD Vance as his running
mate. Vance repeatedly stresses his opposition to the U.S. writing what he has
called "blank checks" to help Kyiv fight off Russian invasion.
Britain is a
stalwart supporter of Ukraine and that will continue under its new center-left
Labour government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which won a landslide
election this month.
The
country's new Labour government is more enthusiastic about forging deeper
defense co-operation with European allies than its Conservative predecessor,
and moved quickly to sign a cooperation deal with Germany on Wednesday.
As part of a
whistle stop tour of Europe, including France, Poland and Estonia over 48 hours
this week, British Defense Minister John Healey closed the pact with his German
counterpart Boris Pistorius at the Bendlerblock ministry complex in Berlin.
"We
fight together, we train together, we drink beer together," Healey during
a press conference alongside Pistorius in Berlin.
The deal
commits both sides to ramp up industrial coordination and joint operations
while trailing much more to come. “These visits send a clear message that
European security will be this government’s first foreign and defense
priority,” Healey said in a statement.
"We
want to strengthen our arms industry,” Pistorius said, standing next to Healey.
“We want to work more closely together in the development, production and
procurement of weapons and ammunition."
While the
deal won’t mark an immediate sea change in relations between the two armies and
defense ministries, it does commit both sides to start standardizing their
weapons systems and ammunition.
The war in
Ukraine, and the differences in weaponry donated to the war torn country, has
underscored the extent to which Europe’s defense industry is fractured.
That’s
prompted the Continent’s big players to pledge to work more closely together,
with the new British government indicating that it’s willing to plug directly
into those programs.
The U.K. and
Germany are the top two European contributors to Ukraine when it comes to
military aid and the biggest outright spenders on defense, committing €74.9
billion and €66.8 billion respectively in 2023, according to the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute.
Three weeks
into his tenure as minister, Healey said the new pact will "kickstart a
deep, new defense relationship."
"Objectives
set out in Wednesday’s joint declaration ... include strengthening U.K. and
German defence industries, reinforcing Euro-Atlantic security, improving the
efficiency of joint operations, confronting evolving security challenges such
as the cyber domain, and supporting Ukraine," the U.K. defense ministry
said.
Back in
December, Healey told POLITICO a bilateral defense deal with Germany — along
with separate pacts with France and the EU — was a priority for a future Labour
government.
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