LONDON — The U.K. and Germany are preparing to sign a wide-ranging treaty that includes a mutual assistance clause in the case of a threat to either nation, according to five people with knowledge of the process.
PM Keir Starmer and former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz laid the groundwork for the pact in a joint declaration last summer, promising closer cooperation on peace and security and economic growth.
The text of the treaty is close to completion, two London-based officials said. It is expected to be signed on July 17 before the two parliaments rise for summer recess.
Key chapters include one devoted to defense, building on the Trinity House Agreement signed last year, which sets out that any strategic threat to one country would represent a threat to the other.
This would give Germany a mutual assistance clause with both of Europe’s nuclear powers, in line with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s desire to strengthen the continent’s deterrent separately from the U.S.
While the treaty will likely reaffirm the commitment of both nations to NATO as the cornerstone of their collective defense, the clause’s inclusion underlines the push for European allies to work more closely on security as the U.S. pulls back from the transatlantic defense alliance.
The document is expected to contain further measures on tackling illegal migration, transportation, and research and innovation. It is also set to feature a commitment to promote cross-border exchanges — an extremely thorny area for Starmer’s government as he faces pressure to reduce both legal and illegal migration.
Any concrete agreement on youth mobility will be negotiated at the EU level, after the U.K. was unable to reach an agreement on this area as part of the “reset” agreed in May. Berlin has been one of the capitals pushing hardest for liberalization of the rules on young people coming to Britain.
The treaty between Starmer and Merz is the fruit of 18 rounds of negotiations, three of which were held face to face in Berlin and two in London.
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said: “The treaty will deal with the entire range of our relations.”
The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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