London and Berlin sign another "historic treaty" to strengthen European security

LondonThe just under 1,000 kilometers of straight-line distance (932) between London and Berlin, and the just over 1,000 (1,096) by road, were reduced to a minimum this Thursday, at least symbolically, after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signed a far-reaching cooperation treaty in London. Mutual commitments to security, European defense, trade and scientific promotion, migration cooperation, and practical gestures for citizen mobility—even promising a direct high-speed train between the two capitals in ten years—mark this comprehensive bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany, the first since the Second World War.

The 23-page text includes a clause stating that a threat against one of the two states will be considered a threat against the other, a formulation reminiscent of NATO commitments and, in practice, a new warning in Vladimir Putin's Russia. The clear message comes as Germany has become the third largest arms supplier to Ukraine, a role that has irritated Moscow and reinforces Berlin's shift toward a much more assertive European defense policy, following the many hesitations at the beginning of the war by then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the doubts of Kiev and Volodymyr Zelensky. Indeed, the chancellor asserted during the press conference that "joint security is the thread that holds together the treaty signed today."

On a symbolic level, but to establish historical ties dating back to the 19th century, the German-British agreement was dubbed the Kensington Treaty and was signed at the Victorian & Albert Museum, in the western district of the British capital that bears that name. The museum evokes the marriage between Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was born in Germany.

This Thursday was the first trip to London since Merz came to power in early May, and takes place a week after the commitment made to coordinate Franco-British nuclear weapons to which they arrived London and Paris, during French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to the United Kingdom.

What has already become a solid triangle will get another boost when Macron visits Berlin next week. The three leaders met for the first time on a train en route to Kiev, just days after Merz secured the Bundestag nomination as chancellor. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was also in attendance.

If there was any doubt, Merz clearly stated that "the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are converging in their positions on foreign policy, security policy, migration policy, but also on economic policy issues." A dynamic that, according to both leaders, is not mutually exclusive. "We always take into account Poland, Italy, and other European partners, even smaller ones, in any decision we make," the chancellor recalled, in further evidence of his staunch Europeanism, which forced him to recall the great "disappointment" he experienced over Brexit. Like Macron's visit last week, Merz's visit this Thursday also involves overcoming the crisis that originated in 2016 with the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

Deepening the trilateral collaboration, the text of the Treaty also declares that "the parties will seek to intensify trilateral cooperation with the French Republic [to] jointly address international challenges"; in other words, the Russian threat. The signatories consider "the brutal war of aggression by the Russian Federation on the European continent the most significant and direct threat to its security."

It is therefore not ignored that the United States' withdrawal from Europe, and the guarantees Washington provided for the continent's security, will become increasingly weak. This distancing from the Trump administration explains why the agreements between France, the United Kingdom, and Germany contain clauses according to which an attack on one is an attack on the other two, a replica of NATO's famous Article 5. Berlin, London, and Paris no longer want to be caught out by Washington again.

Germany was already committed to France by the Élysée Treaty, and the United Kingdom and France are committed to it by the Lancaster House Treaty. The Kensington Treaty completes what is undoubtedly a new European security architecture.

Thanks to Donald Trump

Aside from more domestic issues of great concern to Starmer's government, such as halting undocumented immigration, the press conference—held at the Aribus space and defense factory in Stevenage, 70 kilometers north of London, in another symbolic gesture—had Ukraine as its central theme.

In this regard, Foreign Minister Merz stated that he is "very grateful" to Donald Trump for having committed to sending arms to Ukraine through NATO, arms that, according to the chancellor, will be sent by European allies "within Washington" and that will subsequently be replaced. And yet, Merz said that "Europe and the United States are going in the same direction." Starmer emphasized this statement by recalling the doctrine they pursue to force Putin to the negotiating table "through force." A goal that, for the moment, Ukraine's allies are very far from achieving.

On the sidelines of the press conference, British Defense Minister John Healey told the House of Commons from Westminster that detailed military plans have already been drawn up for the deployment of a multinational force to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

Ukrainian troops would lead their country's defense, while the multinational force would provide logistics, weapons, training, and experts. But if the possibility of Putin sitting at the negotiating table is remote, should he take Trump's ultimatum seriously, which has given it 50 days to reach peace, before imposing sanctions on Russia's trading partners, a ceasefire seems even more so.

At least the possibility seems remote if we take into account the statements made this Thursday afternoon, from Moscow, by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, when she assured that the Kremlin "will not accept the threats" of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and that Donald Trump's decision to "continue the massacre and a rejection of the peace initiative."