BERLIN (AP) — The leaders of Germany and the United Kingdom announced plans Wednesday to draw up a treaty that would strengthen trade, defense and other ties between the two countries.
The move comes as new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pushes ahead with plans for a “reset” of relations with the European Union.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he welcomed fellow centre-left leader Starmer’s desire for a new beginning in relations with the EU and that “we want to seize this outstretched hand.”
Starmer took office in early July after the previous Conservative government was defeated in an election. Four years after the UK leave the EUHe says he wants to repair ties strained by years of angry bickering over Brexit terms.
He said he hopes to conclude the bilateral agreement with Germany, Europe’s largest economy, by the end of this year.
“It will be ambitious, it will be broad, it will include trade, the economy, defense and many other issues,” he told reporters. The two leaders are among Ukraine’s biggest military backers and stressed their commitment to maintaining that support.
Starmer said the two countries also plan to draw up a “joint action plan to tackle illegal migration.” His government remains under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, despite scrapping Conservative plans. controversial plan to send them on a one-way trip to Rwanda.
Migration is also an issue that Scholz’s government has been dealing with for a long time. heavy pressureespecially since Friday’s attack in Solingen, in which a suspected extremist from Syria who had escaped deportation is accused of murdering three people.
The proposed treaty between the UK and Germany is partly based on agreements Britain has made with France in recent years on defence, security and closer cooperation in enforcing the law against people-smuggling gangs.
Starmer sent a signal by visiting Berlin early in his term — unlike predecessor Rishi Sunak, who took 18 months. But his talk of a fresh start for the EU has its limits.
He has ruled out many important potential steps towards closer ties and is positive about the idea of an agreement on youth mobility with the 27 countries.
“I am absolutely certain that we want a reset … with Europe, a reset with the EU,” Starmer said in Berlin.
“That doesn’t mean we should reverse Brexit or rejoin the single market or the customs union, but it does mean a closer relationship on a number of fronts – including the economy, including defence, including exchanges, but we have no plans for the youth mobility programme.”
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Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.