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‘What message does it send when the EU can’t even agree to a mutually beneficial partnership with the UK - a country with one of Europe’s strongest defence industries? ‘
In Ukraine, brave men and women stand between us and the tyrant on our doorstep. Every day, they defend their homes, their sovereignty and, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, the security of the entire European continent. Their struggle is not some distant conflict; it is the frontline of our collective defence against Vladimir Putin’s revanchist aggression. And yet, at a moment when unity should be non-negotiable, Europe continues to trip over its own feet.
The latest example came this week with the collapse of talks over the UK’s participation in the EU’s flagship defence instrument, the SAFE fund. This was an opportunity for Europe to demonstrate strategic maturity - a chance to put security collaboration ahead of institutional turf wars and bureaucratic rigidity. Instead, the moment was squandered.
That failure lands at a particularly dangerous time. Donald Trump’s return to the White House has already emboldened Moscow, and reports of Trump placing Zelenskyy under intense pressure to capitulate to Kremlin demands are deeply alarming. If America retreats from its commitment to Ukraine, Europe will be forced to take the lead in guaranteeing the country’s survival and, by extension, our own. That leadership requires capability, coordination, and money. SAFE was designed to help provide exactly that.
So what message does it send when the EU can’t even agree to a mutually beneficial partnership with the UK - a country with one of Europe’s strongest defence industries? The message is that, even amid the gravest security crisis in generations, some in Europe still default to protectionism over purpose.
The UK is not blameless in the dysfunction of recent years. Six years of antagonistic post-Brexit politics have made trust harder to rebuild than it should have been. But Ukraine does not have the luxury of waiting for European capitals to reacquaint themselves with geopolitical reality.
Now is not the time for bureaucratic wrangling. It is the time for liberal-democratic allies across Europe who are serious about defending freedom and deterring aggression to get their act together. That means ensuring the UK can participate in the SAFE fund. It means accelerating joint procurement and increasing industrial capacity. It means moving beyond the defensive crouch that has characterised too much of Europe’s response to the war. Above all, it means recognising that security fragmentation is a gift to Putin - one he is more than happy to exploit.
The tragedy is that this should be obvious. The European Union was founded in the ashes of a continent devastated by war. Peace was its raison d’être - not a footnote, but the animating purpose behind every treaty, institution, and enlargement. Today, with a land war once again raging in Europe, that founding rationale should be ringing in the ears of every leader from Dublin to Bucharest.
And yet, instead of rising to the historic moment, Europe risks relapsing into the habits of complacency that made Putin believe he could get away with invasion in the first place.
Europe still has time to correct course, but not much. The window for decisive action narrows with every battlefield setback Ukraine faces and every signal from Washington that American backing may fade. The EU must open the door to deeper UK-EU security cooperation. It begins with SAFE and with remembering that peace, the EU’s founding promise, will survive only if we defend it together.
Naomi Smith is CEO of Best for Britain

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