The EU and U.K. are moving toward a defense and security pact. In principle, it’s a decent idea, but a problem has come up.
As NATO’s European members contemplate a world in which they will be assuming much more responsibility for their own defense (on top of defense budgets, which were already increasing), there has been a lot of talk about how they should cooperate.
To this end, the EU and U.K. are moving toward a defense and security pact. The U.K. is, with France, one of Western Europe’s two nuclear powers. In principle, it’s a decent idea, but a problem has come up.
The defense and security pact being drawn up between the U.K. and the EU will fall apart if Keir Starmer doesn’t make concessions on fishing rights, according to a senior European politician.
Jessica Rosencrantz, Sweden’s EU affairs minister, said it was vital to make fast progress on a formal security agreement with the U.K., especially at a time of heightened tension over Ukraine, as countries rapidly re-arm. Officials on both sides are looking to a summit in May as a moment when such a deal could be signed, at least in outline terms.
But in an interview with POLITICO, the minister said EU member governments were unlikely to sign off on a security deal with the U.K. unless negotiations are also resolved on other “sensitive” issues, including access to British waters for European fishing fleets. A deal on fish would also help in “building trust” between London and Brussels, she added.
For frivolity in the face of a crisis this takes some beating. And if, as I would hope, some effort will be made to try to rebuild transatlantic relations, this sends an extraordinarily counterproductive signal to the U.S.
But who could be insisting on such a thing? As I read this story with mounting amazement, I wondered (very, very briefly) which country might be behind the fish demand.
I read on.
[B]ehind the scenes officials have let it be known that France in particular is determined to secure more advantageous fishing rights in return for a reset in the U.K.-EU relationship. . . .
Of course.
There are other issues holding things up too, “such as a proposed youth mobility scheme and border policies for Gibraltar.”
With the Atlantic Alliance in a shambles and Putin planning who knows what, it’s certainly a novel idea to hold things up until a youth mobility scheme has been worked out.
The problem is that a possible defense pact has gotten muddled up with the current effort by Britain’s flailing Labour government to negotiate a broader “reset” with the EU. That this is even necessary is because of the failure of two shockingly inept Tory prime ministers, Boris Johnson and Theresa May, to negotiate a suitable Brexit deal (which would have kept Britain in the Single Market and avoided this). The answer is to de-muddle things by keeping the EU reset separate from the defense talks.
But if the EU insists on bundling the two deals together and insists that the fishing rights are a sticking point, the U.K. should walk. It’s best not to partner with a predator.