Germany and Britain pledged Wednesday to cooperate more closely on defence and security issues as part of the new Labour government’s post-Brexit “reset” in relations with European allies.
On his inaugural visit to Berlin, UK Defence Secretary John Healey signed a joint declaration with German counterpart Boris Pistorius that was hailed as the first of its kind between the NATO allies.
It includes pledges to strengthen the defence industries in both countries, cooperate more closely on the development and procurement of weapons, and coordinate “even better” on support for Ukraine, Pistorius said.
The pact would “strengthen the European pillar within NATO and thus NATO as a whole”, Pistorius said at a joint press conference.
Healey, welcomed to the German capital with military honours, said the deeper cooperation in the defence sector would bolster both nations’ security as well as “our national economies”.
The pact comes as Britain’s Labour government, after a landslide election win this month, is “determined to reset relations with Europe”, Healey said.
“Britain’s essential relationships with many European allies has been strained at best” in recent years, he said, in a nod to ties soured by Brexit.
The defence declaration “signals the start of a developing and deepening relationship between our two countries” that “have an important contribution to make to the collective security of Europe”, Healey added.
Healey’s trip to Berlin is part of a lightning tour of Europe this week including stops in France and Poland and a coming visit to Estonia.
“Yes, breakfast in Paris, lunch in Berlin, dinner in Warsaw and perhaps a beer after this is over,” Healey told reporters after meeting with his Polish counterpart on Wednesday evening.
He added that he came to Poland to “state very clearly the new UK government’s unshakeable commitment to NATO, to Poland and to the alliance’s eastern flank”.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz thanked Healey for what he said was the UK’s plan to deploy “four to six Eurofighter jets to the air policing mission over Poland next year”.
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