UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans multi-national defense cooperation initiatives to reduce costs

Investing.com - UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is preparing to propose a joint defense procurement initiative to Western allies aimed at reducing military costs through coordinated weapon purchases, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

According to the Financial Times, citing UK government officials, Sunak plans to present this proposal at the Munich Security Conference this weekend.

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He will advocate for deepening defense cooperation in his Saturday speech and hold private meetings with other leaders during the three-day event.

The Financial Times reports that this initiative comes as the UK faces a defense funding gap of up to £28 billion over the next decade.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK and NATO allies have committed to increasing defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, with President Trump also urging member countries to contribute more. The UK’s tight fiscal situation leaves the government without a clear path to achieve this goal.

According to the report, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stated this week that the UK and EU member states need to get better “value for money” on their growing defense expenditures. She called for increased interoperability, joint procurement, and standardization of weapon specifications across European countries.

The Financial Times reports that Reeves has shown interest in developing a European defense mechanism capable of issuing debt to fund collective weapon procurement, an idea proposed by the Brussels think tank Bruegel.

Under this proposal, jointly financed weapons could be temporarily stored, with related debt not counted on the participating countries’ balance sheets.

Last month, the parties forming a minority coalition government in the Netherlands indicated they would explore such a mechanism, including close cooperation with NATO partners like the UK, as mentioned in their coalition agreement.

After last year’s negotiations stalled over the UK’s refusal to contribute financially, Sunak also reopened discussions about the UK’s participation in the EU’s military program “European Security Action,” a setback in post-Brexit relations.

However, Germany seems focused on its own military plans. “The fact is, as trust in the US diminishes, all of us will have to consider this issue,” Gunter Wolf, a senior researcher at Bruegel, told the paper.

A spokesperson for the UK Treasury stated that the UK is “committed to deepening cooperation with allies.”

This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. For more information, see our Terms of Use.