London and Berlin are expanding military cooperation

 

British Defense Minister John Healey spoke of a “milestone”. His German counterpart Boris Pistorius emphasized that Europe’s security can no longer be taken for granted, which is why “the European pillar within NATO” needs to be strengthened. This is precisely the aim of the agreement that Healey and Pistorius signed on Wednesday and which provides for the implementation of arms policy projects in all dimensions (from air to land and sea to space and cyber). The signing took place in London’s historic Trinity House, where an authority has overseen the construction of lighthouses since 1518 and which now gives its name to the treaty between London and Berlin.

Complete love triangle

The signing of the Trinity House agreement comes almost two months after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s inaugural visit to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The fact that this meeting took place a few weeks after Starmer’s election was seen as a positive signal in Berlin, especially since Starmer’s conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak only traveled to Germany towards the end of his term in office. The German Social Democrats and the British Labor government are politically closer, which may have made rapprochement easier. The two countries want to seal further cooperation beyond defense policy by the beginning of the year.

However, Berlin and London also share tangible security policy interests. Since the consequences of a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House for NATO and especially for Ukraine are uncertain, the call is currently growing louder again for Europe to take more responsibility for its own defense. Pistorius told the media that, given Russia’s policy of aggression and the US’s strategic turn towards Asia, stronger European engagement was necessary anyway. But depending on the outcome of the American presidential election on November 5th, this shift in emphasis could happen a little faster and more strongly, explained Pistorius.

Berlin and London are already linked to Paris with a bilateral security agreement. In London it is said that the Trinity House agreement should complete the triangular relationship between the most important European regional powers and send a signal. After the USA, Germany and Great Britain are the NATO states with the largest defense spending. And with military aid worth around 15 and 14 billion euros since 2022, they are Ukraine’s most important arms suppliers after the USA.

Even if Democrat Kamala Harris were to become the new American president, it would be conceivable that future aid for Ukraine would fail due to a divided Congress. London and Berlin would be far from being able to compensate for a possible loss of American military aid. But the commitment to long-term support for Kiev is explicitly part of the agreement. The Sea King helicopters supplied by Germany are to be equipped with modern British missile systems.

Long-range, long-range missiles

The contract provides for a whole series of further armaments projects to develop weapons and future technologies such as tanks and drones. The plan is to rapidly produce new long-range weapons that are more precise and have a far greater range than all current systems. In Great Britain there are considerations about developing new types of missiles that could reach Russian territory from Germany as a deterrent against Moscow.

At the same time, the production of conventional weapons should also be intensified. As part of the agreement, the German company Rheinmetall will open a new factory in the UK to produce artillery tubes, which is expected to create around 400 jobs. German maritime reconnaissance and submarine hunting aircraft will also operate regularly from Lossiemouth in the far north of Scotland to protect the North Atlantic. Joint training and exercises for British and German troops stationed in the Baltics as part of securing NATO’s eastern flank are also planned.

Security expert Ulrike Franke from the European Council on Foreign Relations is skeptical about whether the agreed projects will be successful in the long term. “The direction is right, but the agreement must also be filled with life,” she says. In many respects it remains unclear how the decided measures should be implemented.

“What is more interesting is what is not mentioned in the agreement,” says Franke. For example, there is no passage for exchanging intelligence information. It would help the common defense to share these among each other. Germany in particular would benefit from this, as Great Britain is likely to be much better positioned in this area as a member of the Anglo-Saxon Five Eyes espionage alliance.

The agreement also says nothing about nuclear deterrence. Germany does not have its own nuclear weapons, but Great Britain does. In the past, French President Emmanuel Macron had repeatedly offered Germany and other EU countries to work more closely together on nuclear deterrence. The background was also statements by Trump, who openly questioned the protection of NATO states. There were considerations of forming a European protective umbrella with the weapons of Great Britain and France.

Labor is looking for a new beginning with Europe

For the British Labor government, the Trinity House agreement is an initial success in its efforts to put relations with its European neighbors on a new basis with a “reset”. Starmer does not want to reverse Brexit, and he does not want the UK to return to the internal market. At a meeting in Brussels at the beginning of October, Starmer and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to talks about deepening cooperation in security policy, among other things.

It remains to be seen whether the words will be followed by substantial actions. The EU is seeking a more important role in European arms policy. And since the British defense industry is one of the largest on the continent, including Great Britain would actually make sense. But today’s EU defense fund is closely linked to the EU internal market. That’s why so far only companies from EU and EEA countries can take part in tenders, while British companies are not taken into account. As long as nothing changes, European arms cooperation will remain below its potential.