Five years after Brexit, Germany and the United Kingdom have formally placed their relationship on a new footing with a wide-ranging friendship treaty, reported dpa.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed the 27-page agreement – accompanied by a 17-point action plan – during a ceremony at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Merz, on his first visit to the UK since taking office in May, called it a “historic day for German-British relations.”<\/p>\n
“We want to work more closely together, especially after the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. It is long overdue that we conclude such a treaty with each other,” the conservative politician said at the museum.<\/p>\n
The treaty aims to deepen cooperation in key areas including defence, economic policy, migration and the fight against cross-border crime.<\/p>\n
It also outlines concrete measures to ease travel between the two countries, such as visa-free school trips and plans for a direct rail link.<\/p>\n
The preamble says both governments are “guided by the desire to join forces for a prosperous, secure and sustainable future for their citizens and their open, democratic societies in the face of fundamental changes of the geopolitical environment.”<\/p>\n
Defence: Mutual assistance and arms cooperation<\/p>\n
The treaty underscores the countries’ mutual defence obligations as NATO allies, which is made especially significant given the UK’s status as a nuclear power. The goal is to boost European deterrence and defence over the next decade.<\/p>\n
The two sides plan to jointly develop a European-made long-range weapons system capable of striking targets up to 2,000 kilometres away, addressing a capability gap with Russian medium-range missiles.<\/p>\n
Export rules for jointly developed military equipment will also be eased. Germany\u2019s traditionally strict regulations have slowed arms exports in the past, but the UK hopes a more flexible approach could unlock billions in potential sales.<\/p>\n
Visa-free travel and rail links<\/p>\n
One of the most tangible steps is visa-free travel for German school groups visiting the UK, set to take effect by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Currently, students without German citizenship – such as those from Syria or Afghanistan – must obtain UK visas, which can be difficult and have led some schools to cancel trips entirely.<\/p>\n
An expert working group will also look into broader “mobility challenges” created by Brexit, especially in education, science, culture and political exchange.<\/p>\n
A long-term goal is to establish a direct passenger rail connection between Germany and the UK. Currently, such travel requires transfers due to border control issues. A task force will be created to move this forward, with the first direct trains expected within a decade.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, British travellers will gain access to automated e-gates in Germany by the end of August, with further expansion planned as infrastructure allows.<\/p>\n
Migration: Tackling human smuggling<\/p>\n
Germany and the UK have agreed on an action plan to combat irregular migration, with a focus on human-smuggling networks. This includes legal cooperation, joint criminal prosecutions and strengthened border controls.<\/p>\n
Starmer\u2019s Labour government faces mounting pressure at home to reduce the number of small-boat crossings across the English Channel – a politically charged issue that has fuelled the rise of Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK party, currently polling ahead of other parties.<\/p>\n
With more than 20,000 Channel crossings already recorded this year, 2025 could break previous records.<\/p>\n
Germany is seen as both a transit route for migrants and a source of boats and equipment used in the Channel crossings.<\/p>\n
Last week, Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new migrant return agreement due to begin within weeks aimed at deterring migrants from making the dangerous journey. The deal still faces legal hurdles, however.<\/p>\n
Merz and Starmer have crossed paths several times since Merz was sworn in on May 6, including during a surprise joint visit to Kiev alongside Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk just days later.<\/p>\n
(By Michael Fischer and Christoph Meyer)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five years after Brexit, Germany and the United Kingdom have formally placed their relationship on a new footing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3461,3458,3439,3422,3437,3419,3395,3387,3447,3396,3400,1417,3398,3448,3471,3444,3427,3462,3456,3467,3408,3476,3406,3479,3465,3378,3377,3445,3374,3403,3407,3452,3404,3413,3459,3405,59,57,58,3429,3401,3379,3414,3402,3409,3436,3389,3416,3468,3442,3441,3417,3386,3438,3425,3432,3434,3455,3385,3424,3450,3453,3388,3464,3433,3446,3470,696,3423,50,3376,3431,3474,3473,3475,3397,3454,3472,3477,3382,3435,3393,3394,938,3392,3383,3415,3390,3391,3418,3420,3478,3412,3463,1040,3399,3480,3466,3457,3426,3451,3421,3375,1668,3380,3460,3449,3469,3381,3440,56,54,55,3410,3384,3430,3411,3428,3443],"class_list":["post-5836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-100-years-of-independence","tag-7-up","tag-aamulehti","tag-alexandar-stubb","tag-anne-barner","tag-antti-rinne","tag-arcktikum","tag-arctic","tag-arctic-business-forum","tag-arctic-circle","tag-arctic-light-hotel","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-aurora-borealis","tag-baltic-sea","tag-bus","tag-business-oulu","tag-centre-party","tag-christmas","tag-cococola","tag-cumlus-hotel","tag-daily-finland","tag-denmark-nordea-bank","tag-df","tag-dunsken-bank","tag-easter-holiday","tag-english-language-news-from-finland","tag-english-news-from-finland","tag-finavia","tag-finland","tag-finland-times","tag-finland-today","tag-finlandia","tag-finlandtimes","tag-finnair","tag-finnish-government","tag-ftimes","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-green-league","tag-helsingin-sanomat","tag-helsinki","tag-helsinki-airport","tag-helsinki-times","tag-helsinki-university","tag-hridi-hautala","tag-ice","tag-ice-hockey","tag-ikea","tag-ilta-lehti","tag-ilta-sanomat","tag-juha-sipila","tag-jyvaskyla","tag-kaleva","tag-kansallinen-kokoomus","tag-kemi","tag-kittila","tag-koff","tag-kokkola","tag-kokoomus","tag-lapin-kansa","tag-lapin-kulta","tag-lapland","tag-lapland-hotels","tag-levi","tag-malmi","tag-metro","tag-microsoft","tag-national-coalition-party","tag-news","tag-news-from-finland","tag-nokia","tag-norden","tag-nordic","tag-norsen","tag-northern-light","tag-olvi","tag-onnibus","tag-op-bank","tag-oulu","tag-petteri-orpo","tag-poro","tag-porocup","tag-refugees","tag-rendeer","tag-rovaniemi","tag-rovaniemi-airport","tag-santa","tag-santa-claus","tag-sauli-niinisto","tag-sdp","tag-shampoo-bank","tag-silja-lines","tag-ski-holiday","tag-snow","tag-snow-hotel","tag-snowmobile","tag-sokos-hotel","tag-sprite","tag-suomen-keskusta","tag-suomen-kuvalehti","tag-suomen-sosialidemokraattinen-puolue","tag-suomi","tag-sweden","tag-tampere","tag-tom-of-finland","tag-tornio","tag-tram","tag-turku","tag-turun-sanomat","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-university-of-finland","tag-vaasa","tag-vihrea-liitto","tag-viking-lines","tag-ville-matti-niinisto","tag-yle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}