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The global turmoil prompted by the Trump administration is deepening the EU’s resolve to sign a defence and security pact with the UK that would allow British arms companies to participate in joint arms procurement.
President Donald Trump’s threats to not protect Nato allies and his overtures to Russia have forced European countries to collectively re-arm and scale up their defence spending, while also discussing how to pool capabilities to best protect Ukraine after a possible US-brokered peace deal.
A “coalition of the willing” co-led by France and the UK has paved the way for the pact to be signed next month at a summit of EU leaders hosted by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer — the first such meeting since Brexit.
“On defence, the Brits are basically back inside the tent,” said an EU diplomat. “We just need this agreement to affirm that.”
EU ambassadors on Friday met in preparation for that summit, with four diplomats saying a majority of capitals called for that defence and security pact to be signed in addition to a broader statement on geopolitical issues.
The European Commission has made such a document a pre-requisite for the UK’s participation in a proposed €150bn loan programme that governments can tap for military procurement.
In a sign of their close co-ordination, Britain’s defence secretary John Healey last week co-hosted a “coalition” meeting in Brussels with his French counterpart, followed by a Ukraine military supplies meeting in Germany co-chaired with his German counterpart.
At the same time, British chancellor Rachel Reeves joined EU finance ministers in Warsaw over the weekend to make the case “for deeper defence financing co-operation with our European allies”.
EU capitals are also aiming to finalise two other accords with the UK that will cover issues including energy, migration and fisheries.
The latter is a controversial issue for France, Denmark and some other coastal EU states that want to maintain their access to UK waters after an existing agreement runs out in 2026.
The French position, restated during the EU ambassadors’ discussion on Friday, is that any push by the UK to renegotiate the level of EU access to British fishing waters would cloud the broader negotiations, including on defence.
“The war, Trump, and re-arming Europe is bringing France and the UK closer,” said a second EU diplomat. “But we need goodwill on some other things to bring the EU and UK closer.”
Both Paris and London are under pressure to find a compromise, the diplomats said, with other capitals arguing that it would be ludicrous for fishing rights — a politically sensitive but economically minor issue — to stymie closer co-operation on something as existential as Europe’s security.
“The French are looking at this with a magnifying glass while everyone else just sees the big broad obvious strategic benefit of it,” said the first EU diplomat of the defence pact.
The French embassy to the EU declined to comment.
Denmark, another EU country with a strong fishing industry, said it was “always open” to “closer co-operation with countries from outside of the European Union”.
Its economy minister Stephanie Lose told the Financial Times: “We know that we have close bonds with Norway, with the UK, so of course we should be open to explore . . . other things that could actually help strengthen Europe.”
Under the €150bn programme, governments would receive loans backed by the EU’s common budget to fund joint procurement of critical weapons such as air and missile defence systems. The defence pact would allow British defence companies, many of whom have close ties to Italian, German, Swedish and other EU defence industries, to fully participate.
Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, and António Costa, the EU Council president representing the bloc’s governments, are both supportive of closer co-operation with the UK, the diplomats said.
“To strengthen Europe’s defence we must do many things in the EU but we must also do many things outside of the EU, so we are open to that engagement,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU economy commissioner.
