Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the UK as a key ally in talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, focusing on preparations for the NATO Summit on the 14th of June.
The Secretary General said:
“It’s great to be back in London and thank you so much for your strong personal leadership on strengthening our transatlantic bond. The bond between Europe and North America. And the United Kingdom is really a staunch and highly valued NATO Ally. You invest a lot in our common security. And I had the pleasure of visiting the HMS Queen Elizabeth off the coast of Portugal last week and that is really an impressive aircraft carrier, demonstrating the commitment of the United Kingdom to our common security, to our collective defence.
And we need that commitment because we live in a more unpredictable world, with more global competition and therefore we need to strengthen our Alliance and that is exactly what we are going to do when I’m looking forward to welcoming you and all the other NATO Leaders to our Summit in Brussels in June in two weeks time where we will demonstrate our strength, bold and forward looking agenda, and demonstrate our commitment to standing together. The transatlantic bond, not only in words, but also in deeds. So once again, thank you much.”
He also thanked the UK for showing leadership on defence investment.
Looking towards the NATO Summit, Mr Stoltenberg stressed that the gathering of Allied leaders will demonstrate the Alliance’s strength and transatlantic unity at a time of increased global competition.
You’re welcome 🙂 I think that the much maligned joint air wing on HMS Queen Elizabeth is a great statement in allied cooperation and I am actually rather proud that our carriers are not only innovative in design, but are designed with joint operations in mind from the get go. That approach in itself is not a sign of weekness, far from it. Lack of investment in defence is where the issue lies and it will take time to wind back 30 to 40 years of cuts. We have made a start, hopefully it will continue in the decades ahead.… Read more »
The only problem being all the other areas of government spending are also hollering for more cash. Defence is an easy one to ignore, especially as they’ve just tossed16 billion into the pot. I fear that will be the lot.
I think a big problem for defence funding is the MoD has a lengthy track record for wasting vast sums of money on programs that deliver nothing or stunted capability. MoD needs to show they can spend wisely before government will consider more funding. This requires ambitions to be realistic, and procurement to be far more disciplined in line with that. It’s early days yet but there is plenty good progress in that direction. Hence the DS has been able to secure a small increase. It’s also worth noting that many countries have similar or worse problems and IMO the… Read more »
HI Andy, I share you concerns, but the geopolitical situation is changing and not for the better. So whlist I would be very surprised if defence spending rises in a nice smooth curve, I would also be surprised if NATO and allied countries do not respond to Russia and China’s increasing aggression. There is already evidence of a responce, Australia, Sweden and the UK are three countries improving their defence posture. Obviously, there are others. The worst case scenario for NATO would be an improving relationship between Russia and China to the point where they develop some kind of military… Read more »
The NHS is black hole that could never be satisfied no matter how much silly money is poured in to it
Yeah maybe but its not like any government is just going to say “sod it, this bloody NHS is never ending…”. They’ll do what they do with every department and give them a cut of the cake they have. Each department (and their supporters) will bitch that THEY should get more, its kind of how it works.
Jens who?
Tip for Jens.
If you’re going to praise the RN and its carriers, drop the bloody Americanism’s and don’t call the flagship of the British fleet, ‘The’ HMS Queen Elizabeth.
🙄
You could always write him a letter, don’t think he’ll see your tip on here. 😐
I think he does pretty well for a chap with English as a second language
I know, i know..I’m being harsh on the man but everyone has their trigger points and this is one of mine 😉
How about Western companies stop funding the huge Chinese military buildup by moving manufacturing out of China? Yea, that makes too much sense I guess.
Simple capalism at its best. No polictican is going to do something that results in their voters paying twice a much for everything, which would happen if couldn’t use the Chinese sweatshops / zero health and safety
I suspect they praises every member state in rotation, not really a news story.
As an American we see the U.K. conciously pulling more weight than any other European ally. The effort might not always get it right, It might not always be pretty, but it’s there. I can’t say the same for the Germans or French.
Sailing the QE into the SCS alone is initiative far beyond the dreams of any other European state. Rest assured we’ll be right there too, with a fleet of SSN’s ready to stack ‘them’ deep at a moments notice.
Thanks from across the pond. A US Navy SSN or SSGN would be a useful addition to the Carrier Group, you can never have enough subs in the area.
QE is so good that news breaking from South Korea is that Hyundai industries design for the S Korean light carrier requirement is a mini QE and has been designed in conjunction with Babcock (who were in the UK aircraft carrier alliance). Seems that some of the construction is proposed to take place here in the UK. That only happens if Hyundai get the contract and not Daewoo.