EU and UK fail to reach agreement on European defense funding

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Council President Antonio Costa, ahead of the UK-EU summit at Lancaster House in London, on May 19, 2025. HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP

The reset in relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) has struggled to live up to expectations. Six months after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa with great fanfare on May 19, Brussels and London acknowledged on Friday, November 28, that they had failed to reach an agreement to include the UK defense industry in the new European defense funding instrument known as SAFE (for "Security Action for Europe").

This collective failure by Europeans to present a united front comes at a critical moment as they seek to display solidarity with Kyiv and avert a potentially unfavorable US-Russian peace plan for Ukraine and the continent's security.

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