LONDON: Talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday could “pave the way” for a defense and security pact, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said as the pair met in London.
With a landmark post-Brexit EU-UK due summit next month, both sides are seeking to improve ties amid the global turmoil ushered in by US President Donald Trump.
However Starmer faces a tricky balancing act, as he is also looking to reach out to the Trump administration and secure a favorable trade deal with the United States.
UK and EU officials have been hoping a defense and security pact will be the highlight of the May 19 meeting, as Trump’s return to the White House casts doubt on the United States’ commitment to NATO and European security.
European Commission President von der Leyen said Thursday’s talks could lead to the UK joining a European defense program.
“We will discuss work on a strategic security and defense partnership agreement, which might pave the way then to a joint procurement and UK participation in our SAFE program,” she said, referring to a 150 billion euro ($170 billion) joint EU fund allowing countries to buy missiles, artillery, drones, ammunition and other equipment.
Britain needs to sign a defense pact to be included in the fund, which could benefit UK companies including BAE Systems and Rolls Royce.
The London summit in May is also meant to turn the page on years of post-Brexit strife, as part of a “reset” in relations promised by Starmer.
Welcoming von der Leyen to Downing Street after the pair attended a global energy security summit in London, Starmer said: “In a world which seems increasingly unstable with an uncertain future, it is so good that we are working so closely together on so many issues.”
“I’m really pleased that we’ve committed to a reset of our relationship, a really important relationship, which I think will be of huge benefit to both of us,” he said.
The summit is set to be a key milestone in the Labour leader’s pursuit of closer relations with the bloc following Britain’s bitter 2020 departure under the previous Conservative government.
However Starmer has laid out strict red lines, while the EU has its own demands, raising questions about what exactly the talks can achieve.
The UK prime minister has vowed Britain will not return to the single market or customs union and has ruled out signing up to freedom of movement.
Some EU countries, led by France, have been pushing to link progress on defense agreements to successful negotiations in other areas, with fishing a major sticking point.
EU chief says talks with UK PM could ‘pave way’ for defense pact
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EU chief says talks with UK PM could ‘pave way’ for defense pact
- Both sides are seeking to improve ties amid the global turmoil ushered in by US President Donald Trump
- Von der Leyen said Thursday’s talks could lead to the UK joining a European defense program
Starvation fears as flood toll passes 900 in Indonesia
- More than 1,790 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Southeast Asia over the past week
- Floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt, and cut off supplies in Indonesia's provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: Ruinous floods and landslides have killed more than 900 people on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra, the country’s disaster management agency said Saturday, with fears that starvation could send the toll even higher.
A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummelled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.
More than 1,790 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past week.
In Indonesia’s provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt, and cut off supplies.
Aceh governor Muzakir Manaf said response teams were still searching for bodies in “waist-deep” mud.
However, starvation was one of the gravest threats now hanging over remote and inaccessible villages.
“Many people need basic necessities. Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh,” he told reporters.
“People are not dying from the flood, but from starvation. That’s how it is.”
Entire villages had been washed away in the rainforest-cloaked Aceh Tamiang region, Muzakir said.
“The Aceh Tamiang region is completely destroyed, from the top to the bottom, down to the roads and down to the sea.
“Many villages and sub-districts are now just names,” he said.
Aceh Tamiang flood victim Fachrul Rozi said he had spent the past week crammed into an old shop building with others who had fled the rising waters.
“We ate whatever was available, helping each other with the little supplies each resident had brought,” he told AFP. “We slept crammed together.”
Aceh resident Munawar Liza Zainal said he felt “betrayed” by the Indonesian government, which has so far shrugged off pressure to declare a national disaster.
“This is an extraordinary disaster that must be faced with extraordinary measures,” he told AFP, echoing frustrations voiced by other flood victims.
“If national disaster status is only declared later, what’s the point?“
Declaring a national disaster would free up resources and help government agencies coordinate their response.
Analysts have suggested Indonesia could be reluctant to declare a disaster — and seek additional foreign aid — because it would show it was not up to the task.
Indonesia’s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout.
Climate calamity
The scale of devastation has only just become clear in other parts of Sumatra as engorged rivers shrink and floodwaters recede.
AFP photos showed muddy villagers salvaging silt-encrusted furniture from flooded houses in Aek Ngadol, North Sumatra.
Humanitarian groups worry that the scale of the calamity could be unprecedented, even for a nation prone to natural disasters.
Indonesia’s death toll rose to 908 on Saturday, according to the disaster management agency, with 410 people missing.
Sri Lanka’s death toll jumped on Friday to 607, as the government warned that fresh rains raised the risk of new landslides.
Thailand has reported 276 deaths and Malaysia two, while at least two people were killed in Vietnam after heavy rains triggered a series of landslides.
Seasonal monsoon rains are a feature of life in Southeast Asia, flooding rice fields and nourishing the growth of other key crops.
However, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly throughout the region.
Environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have also suggested that logging and deforestation exacerbated landslides and flooding in Sumatra.
