“They discussed the current security environment, NATO’s adaption to new threats and preparations for the Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government to be held in London this December.Â
Mr. Stoltenberg thanked the United Kingdom for its leadership in NATO and its strong commitment to the Alliance, on land, in the air, at sea, and in cyberspace.”
Along with The North Atlantic Council, Mr. Stoltenberg will attend the Cyber Defence Pledge Conference at the National Cyber Security Centre in London on Thursday.
The Secretary General will make a keynote speech on NATO’s adaption to counter cyber threats. The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will also address the conference.
Mr. Hunt should also begin the discussion with him on how the rest of NATO needs to start paying the UK for providing by far the greatest amount of the organizations assets and deterrent. Its also time for discussion about how the UK contribution to NATO is linked to the EU as most of the EU are members of NATO and directly benefit from the UK’s large contribution to NATO forces and hence their protection. People argue that its two separate organizations and that its the collective benefits, but its more than that. The two are closely linked and the mass of the EU benefits considerably more from the UK’s contribution more than any other member.
I’m not sure about paying the UK, but paying their minimum 2% of GDP on defence budget .
Any EU army should pay anything extra for Motown as an extra.
The issue of the UK’s contribution to European defence was probably not made part of Teresa May’s Brexit negotiations? Knowing her, that would have been perceived as not being in good spirit? If Boris gets her job, I’m sure that all the cards will be on the table including defence. The obvious disproportional UK contribution to EU security, will need to be reassessed by the new Prime Minister, if the EU continues to hold back on a new deal. For me, the issue is germane to the Brexit debate, and should be placed high on the list of the UK’s new requirements for an improved deal.
Deal? That’s the thing. The EU has maintained no talks on trade can be concluded until the Withdrawal agreement is passed.
So, what is this deal we can not leave the EU without? Trade?
May’s deal had citizens rights and financial obligations sorted.
See the catch. MP’s are jumping up and down about what exactly?
May was atrocious but she has been equally aided by the EU’s behaviour and that of HM opposition.
At least the Lib Dems are open and upfront with their aims.
Morning Daniele. As you now know Mrs May is now on her way out so where to now? I am sure our NATO links and role will remain strong. As pointed out by many we are leaving the EU-not Europe or organisations such as NATO. I have remained conflicted throughout the whole dreadful process of the last two years. As I see things there are two clear cut options-stay in the EU and assist the movement to reform from within along with for example Italy and Hungary, or leave without a deal. The former option stops the uncertainty immediately but leaves us with the issue of creeping Federalisation that has soured the whole European project. If we go without a deal we will face some disruption in the short term but at least it leaves us with a clean slate from which to structure a new relationship going forward. Any in between Deal as things stand will leave us in some sort of limbo-the worst of both worlds.
Regards
Morning Geoff.
My post was pointing out the sheer hypocricy the media ignore of MP’s refusing to sanction leaving without a deal – which can not be signed anyway as the EU themselves refuse to discuss trade yet.
“As pointed out by many we are leaving the EU-not Europe or organisations such as NATO”
Yes. The EU. Not Europe. Try telling that to the BBC and other media, who use the term deliberately.
“As I see things there are two clear cut options-stay in the EU and assist the movement to reform from within along with for example Italy and Hungary, or leave without a deal.”
Cameron tried to get reform. There is none. Find Junkners words on the subject.
“uncertainty immediately but leaves us with the issue of creeping Federalisation that has soured the whole European project.”
There’s the bullseye. The EEC and trade was fine. It has become so much more. I would not call it creeping myself it has been accelerating for some time.
“If we go without a deal we will face some disruption in the short term”
Of course. I love the BBC, media, ex PMs, and anyone against on this one – real trendy buzz words – “Cliff Edge” “into the dark” and “crashing out” just three phrases that spring to mind to install fear, part of the ongoing project fear, into people who dare to want to be independent but still friends and allies with Europe….( I wonder if it will work on the Scots Nats….)
50 countries and rising that want unilateral FT deals with the UK ( that you won’t read about on the BBC ) alongside the current WTO terms is not a cliff edge for one of the worlds biggest economies. And oh I have just alienated the “its all about the British empire” brigade with that comment, as they find the idea of a free independent Britain so offensive.
“Any in between Deal as things stand will leave us in some sort of limbo-the worst of both worlds.”
I agree. Like May’s deal? One that delivered BRINO – Brexit in name only, leaving us tied to all the institutions a majority vote gave a mandate to leave.
Of course no deal is the fiefdom of those nasty “hard” Brexiteers in Parliament who blocked May’s deal along with much of the rest of it who just want it stopped at any price – never mind what their constituents voted.
Sorry for the edge in my post this morning Geoff. I’m on nights, thoroughly pissed off with Whitehall, like millions of others in the UK, and a storm is coming…even though it is sunny here in Surrey today!
Haha Daniele-good to be passionate and I am of the same opinion that a No Deal Brexit is nothing to be feared. I am just saddened by the fact that country that gave the world the best in virtually every field has been reduced in many respects to a sub-contractor for foreign owned firms. Just one example-there are many, is Airbus. If the EU and their cohorts get nasty they could squeeze the UK out of the Airbus project and cause us much harm. Bae made the wrong decision I think, in selling their shareholding. Repeating the aviation example, we need to find new partners like the Japanese to revive our aviation Industry. Also need to stop selling off whats left of the Silver-so many”British” companies are owned by foreigners leaving us with no say over their future.Lovely day in Durban-our dry season started one month late-the rain is supposed to stop on April 1st but we had one of the wettest Aprils on record-10 imperial inches in one spot in just 18 hours!! Climate change… 🙂 Cheers
Geoff. Respect. We think the same.
As for the rain, you can keep it!!!
@Daniele MAndelli – Totally agree with and support everything you laid out there. One thing you did miss out is the EU Election we have just had and which result we will have tomorrow (Sunday). If polls are to be believed then the Brexit Party will get some 35% of the votes and basically clear the board of candidates. THIS was our ‘2nd Referendum and we have made our opinions known yet again. We voted to leave in 2016, we were promised we would in that £9 Mn leaflet for which Mr Cameron kindly used our taxes and we were promised again 2017 in the General Election. To me and I suspect millions of people on both sides of this debate it is now not about leaving the EU as we decided that. It is about the political class defying us, the electorate, and betraying the promises they all made to get elected.. As you rightly say, however, at least the LibDems are honest in their endeavours but I sometimes fail to see how such an illiberal bunch can be called ‘Liberal’ and given their defiance of the electorate they can be called ‘Democrats’.
If the Brexit Party win and win big that will kill any 2nd Referendum ideas and place ‘No Deal’ (or rather WTO Article 24 Deal) back on the table which itself will give us a better negotiating argument. Personally I hope we just say to the EU ‘If you want an FTA start talking or we walk right now’. No CU, no SM, no FoM, no ECJ and no £39 Bn. And certainly no Irish Backstop. They run a £100 Bn surplus in Goods exports to the UK. Who do they think will suffer if they engage in a tariff war? 60% of our exports are shipped under WTO terms how much more could we move when we are not skewered by the EU External Tariff that we pay here on imports, which is then paid to Brussels and which of course is returned against us in foreign tariffs?
And I agree with you Chris. I’m so pleased you’re back posting here, as you’re knowledge on this is unsurpassed and you get facts out better than I ever could.
What has been missing ever since this affair started is a Brexit believing PM who needs to play hard ball like that.
I hope any new PM sends the europhile civil servants like Ollie Robbins far, far away.
For me, and I expect for Nigel Farage and yourself,, this is now more than Brexit, as you mention. It is people against an establishment defiant.
The more the establishment defies the more It will come back to bite them. If a new Tory PM also fails I hope they, and the colluding Labour Party playing party politics, are wiped from the map politically for generations. I am angry, like millions of others, and we will be heard.
@Daniele Mandelli – There is a part of me that has a lot of sympathy for Theresa May despite her utter failure. Cameron laid the foundations for the upcock we have now when he and his Government sided with Remain while promising to respect whatever the decision was. He then baled out and left the scene of his own making. Had he remained (excuse tyhe pun) neutral, not published that leaflet and said ‘I will remain neutral and carry out your wishes’ he would have had a strronger hand and a far easier task with the EU. After all he had the card to play that said “Well there you are I asked for reform, you gave me the finger so this is your doing”
What he did however was set up the political class to be against us, the people. Theresa May was therefore facing attack from two sides of her own party, the Labour Party playing politics, the SNP after another referendum to justify Indyref#2 and of course a phalanx of lying MPs who just do not want us to leave the EU. She inherited a poisoned chalice and has paid the price. But God did she keep at it even if it was the wrong result.
The EU have said no more negotiations, This last week was the 2nd Referendum the Remainers have been asking for and WTO exit is now firmly back on the table regardless of what MPs want. And let them NOW try and foist their ‘not leaving’ on us and see the reaction. Farage will be the next PM have no doubts about that. Just remember Cameron got a good majority in 2015 with 36% of the vote. Labour got 30%. Brexit Party are now polling 35% +.
According to British Law we should have left on March 29th and the bastards cheated me out of the best Birthday I would have ever had ….
Whatever the outcome of the UKs divorce from the European union, our contribution to NATO and wider european security should never be used as a bargaining chip. These are some of our closest allies afterall, and our disproportionately high contribution to European defence and security will be a vital form of leverage in European politics re its foreign policy, sanctions policy, humanitarian efforts, and will crucially help us gain access to European intelligence databases and organisations such as europol post Brexit . We all rightly praise the quality of our own security apparatus but we often forget how having an incredibly close partnership with European defence and intelligence networks benefits us just as much.
I would agree we need them as much as they need us. However, the EU’s intransigence has to be challenged, and defence, should not be precluded from the ongoing negotiations. The plain truth is the UK’s defence contribution is large enough to be legitimately placed on the table if the EU do not give something away, in a bid to be rid of the UK. I for one, would advocate a stronger union with the USA in terms of international defence cooperation in place of increasing commitments to European defence. Brussels needs to be aware that the World does not begin and end at the channel.
@Maurice10 – Echoing my sentiments entirely. I am not one for the trigger phrases but It seems to me that the EU have been the ones ‘cherry picking’ and ‘wanting their security cake and eat it’ by treating us like an enemy (or as a colony as they phrase it) with the utmost disdain and disrespect and then expecting us to assist in their defence despite THEM not being arsed to fund their own defence themselves.
You are totally right: Everything we offer should be on the table and they do not take the bits they like while kicking us in the teeth. If they want our defence, cyber and intelligence assets that are enhanced by our membership of ‘5 eyes’ to be used for their security as well as ours well then that comes with a beneficial trade agreement and no we are NOT paying £39 Bn to be trapped forever in some No Mans Land of a customs union.
Chris H, I’m pleased that you agree. One overriding problem throughout the Brexit negotiations has been our sense of fair play, when what was required, should have come straight out of the Winston Churchill’s book of straight talking. To diminish our contribution to Europe’s defence was a critical mistake. If you wheal a big stick, you act like it, and from what I’ve witnessed, Trump did just that when he visited NATO HQ. Okay, there were sniggers from third-party players, but his message went home, have no doubts about that! The UK’s stance should have been brutish from the outset. The British people don’t like the way the EU experiment has worked out, so wish to leave, and with dignity. Churchill would have been passionate about maintaining strong alliances, but the democratic will of the people would have been drilled home with vigor. The problem with this whole Brexit exercise has been the lack of weighted argument, sadly, we simply lacked the guts to lay down our demands with enough diehard conviction. Boris has his critics, but by God, he would have pounded away at our requirement from the outset. However, it might not be the end of matters?
@maurice10 – The root cause of the failure to negotiate was that to the likes of the Civil Service as epitomised by Ollie Robbins and the Establishment that surrounds those in power Brexit was something to be minimised, to be reduced to the lowest denominator and to, if at all possible, be diffused, dismembered and put away never to trouble the country again. When you have that mindset your opponents will succour you into taking what THEY want. And so it came to pass. Thankfully the WA is now history and we have a clean sheet of paper. My real worry is that the same Establishment power brokers are still there in the background and will still, despite the voters expression of disgust in the EU Elections, drive their EU Luvvie agenda. I am not sure Boris is the right man. he can be a brilliant speaker and the next day be an utter plank and buffoon. That is not the sort of person I want as PM. The rest of the Tory hopefuls, bar Esther McVey, are Remainers or are people who betrayed their principals and voted for TMs deal. As indeed did Johnson. And so the sad comedy of errors will drag on until we have a general election ..
I still can’t believe that May and Merkel are still in power. I guess it’s hard to find good help these days. lol