{"id":8169,"date":"2025-04-10T14:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8169\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:27:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:27:28","slug":"how-uk-eu-weapons-pact-is-set-to-move-brexit-reset-to-the-next-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8169\/","title":{"rendered":"How UK-EU weapons pact is set to move Brexit reset to the ‘next level’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tEU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds says the UK and EU must work closer together on defence\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

The Brexit reset minister has called for a \u201cnext level\u201d UK-EU security pact<\/a> as European finance ministers prepared to discuss a plan for a continent-wide defence fund which would include Britain.<\/p>\n

Writing exclusively for The i Paper, Nick Thomas-Symonds<\/a> argued that the escalating migration crisis on the EU\u2019s eastern borders was driven by Russian aggression and that this should speed up the two sides\u2019 move towards agreeing a security and defence deal.<\/p>\n

It comes as the Government hopes EU finance ministers look favourably on a plan for a joint defence fund<\/a> including the UK which they will discuss in Poland, on the frontline of the migration crisis, this week.<\/p>\n

Ministers meeting at the Ecofin (Economic and Financial Affairs Council configuration) summit in Warsaw will discuss proposals for a fund that will be able to make large-scale military hardware purchases without adding to national debt.<\/a><\/p>\n

The i Paper understands the plan is similar to the Treasury\u2019s own so-called \u201cnon-paper\u201d proposals circulated to EU capitals by the UK for a multilateral fund that would borrow money to stockpile weapons and rearm Europe without adding to national debt piles.<\/p>\n

The plans \u2013 put forward by a Brussels-based economic think tank called Bruegel would see nations then pay to use the equipment.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times has reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been invited to attend the talks this week.<\/p>\n

The EU last month left the UK out of a separate \u00a3150bn rearmament fund, but left the door open to British arms companies being involved as long as the UK and Brussels agree to a wider security pact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thomas-Symonds stepped up the calls for that \u201csecurity and defence partnership\u201d on Thursday after visiting Poland\u2019s border with Belarus, Vladimir Putin\u2019s ally, where an escalating migration crisis is unfolding.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia is driving this crisis as most migrants enter via Russia first on valid Russian visas, and then cross the open border to Belarus,\u201d the Minister for European Relations wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the impact of this at the border left me more convinced than ever that, to keep our peoples safe, we need to take our relationship with Poland and the EU to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treasury draft plan for a joint defence fund would see the creation of a new institution backed by sovereign and equity guarantees to borrow money at favourable rates which it would then lend for defence projects as well as spending on military assets to create a common stockpile.<\/p>\n

It would include a financing structure that would allow members to buy up supplies without having to put investment costs on their national balance sheets, with public finances across the continent under pressure from Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and stuttering economic performance.<\/p>\n

\nTime to take our EU relationship to the next level <\/strong><\/p>\n

By Nick Thomas-Symonds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Standing at the Polish border with Belarus, as I did this week, is a stark reminder \u2013 if any more were needed, of the hugely challenging global situation we are living through.<\/p>\n

Yet in the face of those challenges, the visit gave me a sense of hope, knowing how strong the bonds between the people of Poland and the UK are.\u00a0 The visit further crystalised that we share generational safety and security challenges. From the War in Ukraine to the instrumentalisation of irregular migration. The ongoing migration crisis on the Poland-Belarus border is both a threat to Poland\u2019s security and a humanitarian crisis. Russia is driving this crisis as most migrants enter via Russia first on valid Russian visas, and then cross the open border to Belarus.<\/p>\n

The UK was one of the first to respond when Poland faced the threat of instrumentalised migration, sending British troops to help build roads through difficult terrain that allowed Poland to police their border with Belarus more effectively. When I visited that border this week I saw how Poland is securing it to prevent the flow of migrants. I also met the Polish security forces who face daily attacks as they attempt to manage this very difficult and dangerous situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seeing the impact of this at the border left me more convinced than ever that, to keep our peoples safe, we need to take our relationship with Poland and the EU to the next level. The UK has never shirked on its commitment to European safety and now, against the backdrop of the largest conflict for a generation, we must strengthen our collective ability to tackle wider threats such as organised immigration crime.<\/p>\n

As the criminals behind organised immigration crime become more sophisticated, our cooperation with European partners needs to evolve accordingly.\u00a0 Poland uses physical barriers, advanced cameras, drones and other tech to do just that. We need to enhance our data sharing capabilities with the EU and increase coordination between our operational agencies to make sure we keep up.<\/p>\n

Just last week Poland attended the Organised Immigration Crime Summit and, following the Prime Minister\u2019s visit to Poland in January, we agreed to establish a border security and migration dialogue to strengthen cooperation and tackle the instrumentalisation of migration.<\/p>\n

The people of the UK and Europe expect governments to tackle the scourge of illegal immigration and crime. We can only do that by cooperating on both criminal and civil justice issues \u2013 to prevent crime, protect victims, and promote access to justice for families as they move, live and work across our borders.<\/p>\n

But we cannot consider the safety of people here in the UK and in neighbouring EU countries without looking at the root cause of the instability we\u2019re facing: the fast-changing and increasingly volatile nature of world affairs right now, including Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why, in addition to working with law enforcement agencies across Europe and our Border Security Command, we are ready to look at wider cooperation on the most pressing issues facing our continent\u2019s security. This includes agreeing a Security and Defence Partnership that supports NATO and suits the unique relationship between the UK and the EU.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We also know that there are huge opportunities to be seized by working constructively to pursue the UK and EU\u2019s mutual shared interest, to deliver greater safety, security and prosperity for our people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What I saw on my visit to Poland was an important reminder of Europe\u2019s shared challenges and opportunities. I am more certain than ever that, by working more closely with our EU neighbours on tackling organised crime and irregular migration and by pursuing a closer security and defence relationship, we will keep people across our continent safer,\u00a0 while the opportunities to tackle barriers to trade offer real benefits to our people. That is the change this Government is working to secure.<\/p>\n

Nick Thomas-Symonds is the government\u2019s EU Relations Minister <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds says the UK and EU must work closer together on defence The Brexit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[802,2993,2000,299,5187,1699,810],"class_list":{"0":"post-8169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-defence","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-nick-thomas-symonds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114314139562050614","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}