BRUSSELS – The EU appeared to leave the door open to British companies being part of its joint £150bn defence fund as it published its strategy to be less reliant on the United States.
According to plans set to be unveiled in Brussels today, the EU should begin a massive programme to build its military-industrial complex to deal with both Russian aggression and US pullback from Europe.
The proposed measures include favouring weapons production within the EU. While a draft of the report suggested “like-minded third-country companies” – assumed to refer to the UK as well as Turkey – should be inluded, the published document stated: “The EU should continue mutually beneficial engagement and cooperation in the field of security and defence with all like-minded European, enlargement and neighbouring countries.”