Chancellor Friedrich Merz received relatively new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham with military honors in Berlin.
During Burnham’s visit, the new Treaty on Friendship and Bilateral Cooperation between the UK and Germany — signed last year by previous Prime Minister Keir Starmer — officially comes into force.
Aslo known as the Kensington Treaty, the 27-page document lays out a 17-point action plan for closer cooperation in the post-Brexit erawith the UK no longer a part of the EU.
Merz called it a historic day and said the deal opened up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation, particularly for students and young people.
“That’s what we’re doing this for,” Merz said. “So that the young generation also notices when it comes to bilateral relations between Germany as part of the EU and the UK, how well we Europeans work together and how much we belong together, too.”
Burnham said that the Kensington Treaty would improve security in Europe, help both economies grow and improve people’s living standards.
“In challenging times, and these are challenging times, we need the strongest possible cooperation with our closest partners and Germany really is one of our closest partners,” the former mayor of Manchester said.
Burnham also said that he was open to Germany joining the GCAP program, a partnership between Britain, Italy and Japan to build a next-generation multirole combat aircraft.
“I’ve indicated to the chancellor … our openness to Germany joining GCAP,” he said at a press conference. “That is something that we seek to progress in the coming period, working with our other partners, Italy and Japan.”
A rival Franco-German plan to build a next-generation military jet, FCAS, collapsed in June.
The GCAP project has been set up to allow for different levels of involvement. It expanded in July when Canada signed up as an observer, and Saudi Arabia had also been touted as a potential interested party.
Germany already works with the UK and Italy on the joint Eurofighter Typhoon project.
Italy and Japan would need to join Burnham in indicating a willingness for Germany participating in this project.
Source: www.dw.com
