{"id":749450,"date":"2026-02-08T00:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/749450\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T00:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:09:13","slug":"brussels-brexit-revenge-eu-tells-britain-it-must-agree-to-onerous-terms-if-it-want-to-join-130billion-defence-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/749450\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussel’s Brexit revenge: EU tells Britain it must agree to ‘onerous terms’ if it want to join \u00a3130billion defence fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

By GABRIEL MILLARD-CLOTHIER, POLITICAL REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 17:01 EST, 7 February 2026 | Updated: 17:03 EST, 7 February 2026 <\/p>\n

British firms will be forced to source key technology and parts from Europe if Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> signs up to a \u00a3130 billion EU defence fund, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.<\/p>\n

The clause \u2013 slipped into the small print at a backroom meeting in Brussels last week \u2013 was immediately condemned as the latest trick to impose EU rules on a post-Brexit Britain.<\/p>\n

And one defence expert said the conditions would be ‘utterly deadly for our national security’ \u2013 amid fears it would block the UK from accessing cutting-edge American defence technology.<\/p>\n

Eurocrats have also slapped a \u00a32 billion fee on the UK joining the Security Action For Europe scheme, or Safe \u2013 a figure the Government has so far baulked at. The fund provides low-interest loans to companies in Europe needing ‘urgent and large-scale’ boosts to military capability such as ammunition, drones and missiles.<\/p>\n

It was set up in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine<\/a> and amid fears Donald Trump<\/a> could ditch America’s commitment to Nato<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the ‘non-divergence agreement’ designed to reduce ‘foreign dependency’ has raised concerns about Britain ceding control of defence decisions to Brussels.<\/p>\n

French defence minister Catherine Vautrin agreed that the terms for the UK joining Safe were ‘very onerous’ but said Britain ‘chose to leave Europe with Brexit… and unfortunately that choice has consequences’.<\/p>\n

Professor Gwythian Prins, who has served on the Chief of the Defence Staff’s strategy advisory panel, said it was a mistake to side with the EU over America. He said: ‘This is utterly deadly for our national security. As with the bizarre Chagos giveaway, we must not pay for the privilege of damaging national security.<\/p>\n

\"File <\/p>\n

File photo dated September 25, 2019, of a Union flag and EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament, London<\/p>\n

‘The EU thinks it is Hotel California. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave. But we can \u2013 and we must \u2013 to defend our sovereignty.’<\/p>\n

Another source told The Mail on Sunday that ‘people’s eyes will just glaze over’ at the technicalities in the Safe deal, ‘but the devil is in the detail’.<\/p>\n

Accessing the fund would be part of a costly new defence deal first floated at the Prime Minister’s ‘Surrender Summit’ held in London last year.<\/p>\n

In those ‘reset’ talks, Labour traded away fishing rights and signalled it would be willing to open the door to more people coming into the UK from Europe under a youth mobility scheme, which critics feared was watering down commitments to cut migration.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has expressed his desire to join the Safe scheme, saying on his recent trip to China: ‘I do think on spend, capability and co-operation we need to do more together.<\/p>\n

‘I have made the argument that it should require us to look at schemes like Safe and others.’<\/p>\n

However, officials have been wrangling for months over what Britain would need to pay to join, and have come to no agreement.<\/p>\n

Last week, Brexit minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told MPs: ‘On participation in Safe\u2026 I always said throughout the negotiation that I would only sign up to things that involved value for money.<\/p>\n

‘I did not take the view that in this case, it did offer value for money.’<\/p>\n

When previous talks over what the UK would have to pay to join collapsed in November, the European Commission \u2013 which would ultimately underwrite any Safe loans \u2013 suggested negotiations could resume at a later date.<\/p>\n

A defence pact agreed with the EU last May paved the way for British-based defence companies to act as suppliers to European projects that receive funding from the scheme \u2013 but their contribution is limited to 35 per cent of the total value of a finished product.<\/p>\n

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