Europe: Foreign Policy and Defence Co-operation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Boyce
Main Page: Lord Boyce (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Boyce's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(2 years, 6 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, does the Minister not agree that, notwithstanding Brexit, at the working level the relationships between our Armed Forces and those of other European countries, whether bilateral, trilateral or multilateral, are extremely strong and should be nurtured at all costs?
I thank the noble and gallant Lord for his comment, but we have shown that we do not need a separate institutional treaty to work effectively with the EU on foreign policy, whether co-ordinating on sanctions, responding jointly to Russian aggression or on wider issues involving Iran. Although we have left the EU defence structures, we will continue to work closely with the EU across the common challenges that we face. We do so on a very wide range of issues, including Libya, climate change, Russia and so on, and the trade and co-operation agreement provides for future co-operation on emerging security challenges, where it is in the interests of both sides to continue to work together.