Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 12B of his Department's policy paper entitled Security and defence partnership between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, published on 19 May 2025, what the requirements are for the UK to receive an invitation to the EU high-level meetings.

The Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) agreed with the EU will strengthen NATO, the cornerstone of the UK’s defence. It will complement our core bilateral partnerships – particularly France, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Norway.

The SDP will enable dialogue and cooperation on key issues like Ukraine, space, hybrid, maritime security and resilience of critical infrastructure. These exchanges will be flexible and scalable according to need. For example, we are working to ensure that our personnel and assets can more easily move across the European continent in times of both peace and crisis, including exploring participation in PESCO projects that bolster our NATO warfighting plans.

Implementation will be overseen jointly by the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary. The detail of the terms and the modalities for implementation are under discussion, including any exploration of an Administrative Arrangement with the European Defence Agency, UK participation in additional EU crisis management activity and attendance at working level policy and information exchanges or secondments.

Any commitment– whether financial or non-financial – will provide value to the UK taxpayer and deliver the UK’s defence.