D-UK1

Deutschland mit Vereinigtem Königreich Großbritannien

Military and Law-Enforcement

January 2016

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and German Defence Minister Dr Ursula Von der Leyen Berlin, January 26,2016 ©MoD UK

The United Kingdom and Germany are deepening their Partnerships on Defence and Security Measures

November 2014

On Sunday 9 November Ambassador Dr. Ammon attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall, where members of the British Royal family and UK official were presented also to commemorate the day and the fallen Soldiers of the UK Armed-Forces. The Military Attaché from die Deutsche Botschaft, with the Representative of die Bundeswehr simultaneously participated , on the same day, in the several other Remembrance Day’s events in various Military and war cemeteries across the UK.

The Defence Attaché Brigadier General Hein in Brookwood Military Cemetery in the Uk Remembrance Day. 9. November 2014 ©Deutsche Botschaft London

There will be a similar ceremony in Military resting place in Great Britain, next Sunday, to commemorate ‘the German Volkstrauertag’; the Remembrance Day of the fallen Soldaten of German Armed-Forces who lost their lives also in the battles.

In both events, last week and the next, Germany and Great Britain have and will acknowledge/ed the importance of building a stronger partnerships between the two countries, whose historical bonds and cultural ties can be traced back to long centuries ago.

October 2014

British ‘Medal of Honour for Exceptional Bravery’ is awarded to Deutscher Marinepilot

HRH Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Pilot Kapitänleutnant Steffen Volkwein and the crew from the Royal Navy. London, 27 October 2014 ©die Bundeswehr/ ITV News

In an official ceremony, Deutscher Marinepilot Kapitänleutnant Steffen Volkwein was awarded by Princess Anne of Great Britain for his Exceptional Bravery in a life-saving action in a Search and Rescue Mission which took place last November.

In addition, Kapitänleutnant Volkwein was also awarded on 23 October the “Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue Award” for another rescue mission that he and his crew successfully implemented in February 2014.

September 2014

German-UK Naval Exercise: die Deutsche Fregatte Schleswig Holstein and the HMS Bulwark of the Royal Navy

From mid-September Frigatte Schleswig Holstein leaves Italian coast for joining in a maneuver with the Great Britain’s Royal Navy.

Die Fregatte Schleswig Holstein 2014 ©die Bundeswehr/Björn Wilke/Presse- Marine

The Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group (RFTG) in the Cougar 14 maneuver will be carried out during the next few months and includes a large range of Naval Exercises , particularly amphibious operations in a Multinational environment. The maneuver extends itself across the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East region.
The Royal Navy performs this Exercise every year to keep its Response Force Task Group (RFTG) ready for countering any global emergency crisis.

“This Exercise not only shows our Allies that how flexible and versatile the Maritime Forces can be, but also it demonstrates how well we represent our countries on the International waters.” remarked Captain Dean Bassett of the Royal Navy.

The leading platform during this maneuver is the HMS “Bulwark” of the Royal Navy.
And die Bundeswehr’s Frigatte Schleswig Holstein will be in charge of the security, protection and the safety of the entire Military Units engaged in the Exercise.

22 September 2014

German Navy in an exchange visit with the Royal Navy

“In an exchange programme with the Britannia Royal Naval College, six of the top Officer Cadets from the Naval Officers College, Flensburg, Germany accompanied by two members of staff, visited the Royal Naval Leadership Academy (RNLA) within HMS Collingwood to view the training delivered to members of the Royal Navy.” ©Royal Navy UK

The exchange programme was an opportunity for the Naval Forces of Deutschland and UK to learn about both country’s tradition, history and culture in regard with Navy, as well as the various methods and approaches that each country apply for Military Leadership.

“The Royal Naval Leadership Academy (RNLA) has been so welcoming. They’ve provided a balanced programme of activities; they’ve delivered interactive and engaging lectures. What is great is that on arriving at the RNLA you feel inspired. This exchange allows for us to see the best practices in Leadership.” described the programme Lieutenant Commander Andy Tutchings Royal Navy, Second in Command of the Leadership Training School in Flensburg ©Royal Navy UK

“It has been good, it’s a new experience and the training here is different to ours in Germany. We’ve all enjoyed ourselves. The visit is important in recognising intercultural competence.” Officer Johanna Albers from German Navy explained her experience at the RNLA ©Royal Navy UK

May 2014

Die Bundeswehr in London, celebrating the German-British Military partnerships

On 23 May, the German Navy Frigate Niedersachsen sailed to London to participat in the traditional Ceremony of the ‘Constable’s Dues’. In the ceremony die Deutsche Marine delivered a barrel of wine to celebrate the event which its history goes back to 14 century and the German-British Military partnerships.

©die Bundeswehr

March 2014

The speech of Prime Minister David Cameron to the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, Germany

The script of the speech is from the UK.gov. website.

©Bundesregierung

What can I say – music, violins, a robot thespian – this is how I spend all my Sunday nights.

It is a huge pleasure to be here and can I say to the Chancellor what an honour it is for the UK to co-host this event.

UK and Germany can lead technological revolution

Germany is a country with a proud history in technology from the Fraunhofer institutes in your towns to the tech start-ups in Berlin and of course this world-leading conference we are opening here today.
As that advertisement we all grew up hearing said: “Vorsprung Durch Technik” and it is that spirit we are celebrating tonight.
Progress through technology. And what remarkable progress we see.
Today we can put in our pockets a computer more powerful than any computer in the world 20 years ago.
Just a decade ago – Skype was a typo, a tweet was something you heard from a bird, a cloud was something you saw in the sky – not somewhere you stored your data.
Companies that are starting in people’s garages and bedrooms one year are going stratospheric the next.

This is a world on fast forward, a world of permanent technological revolution and in this world, countries like the UK and Germany will only succeed if we have a relentless drive for new ideas and innovations.
That’s why I am here today. And I have come here with a mission and a message.
My mission here at CeBIT is to promote the extraordinary tech sector we have in the UK.
4 years ago, we put in place a long-term economic plan to turn our country around – and innovation is right at the heart of that plan.

Here is just a taste of what we’ve done.
• we got the London Stock Exchange to make it easier for fast-growing firms to list
• we kept spending on science, despite the downturn
• we introduced huge tax breaks on early stage investment, tax breaks on video games, a Patent Box so if you invent in the UK you only pay 10 per cent tax on those profits.
Government IT has been revolutionised too.
When we came to office, government was spending about £16 billion per year – that is 1 per cent of GDP on its IT, overwhelmingly to large suppliers. So we stripped out the waste and opened up our IT contracts to small firms.
The G Cloud, from where we now procure services, is one of the world’s most innovative tender systems in the world.
Above all, we have rolled out the red carpet to the world’s ideas people. Special visas for entrepreneurs, visas for Tech City, allowing universities to expand by 30,000 students next year and no restrictions at all the year after.
We’re not stopping there. We’re putting coding on the curriculum in our schools for the first time, putting £200 million into equipment for science teaching at our universities. And all this is working.
Come over to Shoreditch in east London and you can see it – Tech City is teeming with start-ups and new ideas.
It started less than 3 and a half years ago with 200 digital companies in that area of east London – now there are 1,300.

Come over to Cambridge or Edinburgh or Oxford and you find clusters of tech companies who are changing the way we live now. I had some of them on the plane over with me this afternoon.
• Touch Bionics – inventors of the world’s most advanced bionic hand
• Raspberry Pi – the phenomenon which has sold over 2.5 million units and counting
• Imagination – who provide the video and graphics for iPhones
This is the UK tech scene today. Dynamic. Relentlessly ambitious. Leading the way.
It is our ambition to make the UK the most digital nation in the G8 and it is my mission to show the world that we’re getting there.

Our Message: we want to work with you.

But I come here today with a message too, for our German friends:
• we want to take these strengths and combine them
• we want to work with you to pool ideas, share data, innovate, to lead on the next big ideas.
And I’ll tell you 3 areas where I see us collaborating more closely.
First, 5G.
With 4G, an 800 megabyte movie takes around 40 seconds to download; with 5G that would be cut to one second.
This is a prize that researchers all over the world are going for and so I am delighted to announce a new collaboration, between the University of Dresden, King’s College University in London and the University of Surrey.
3 world-leading universities working on 5G hand in hand – that is something to be truly excited about.
Second, for our 2 countries to remain competitive, the European single market must keep pace with developments in the digital economy.

So Germany and the UK have agreed to work together to improve the telecoms single market.
We welcome the long-term ambition of the European Commission, but want to take steps that deliver benefits to businesses and consumers quickly, including the complete elimination of mobile roaming charges.
The third area I think we can work more closely on is the Internet of Things.
These are developments that could allow literally billions of everyday objects to talk to each other over the internet – using low-cost, low-power chips.
And this has enormous potential to change our lives.
Electricity meters that talk to the grid to get you the best deals.
Health monitors that keep an eye on your heart rate.
Water pipes that warn of a fall in pressure.
And yes, even a fridge that can order you milk when it notices you are getting low.
I see the Internet of Things as a huge transformative development, a way of boosting productivity, of keeping us healthier, making transport more efficient, reducing energy needs, tackling climate change.

We are on the brink of a new industrial revolution and I want us – the UK and Germany – to lead it.
Let me tell you how seriously we’re taking the Internet of Things in the UK.
We’re getting the infrastructure in place, with our regulator, Ofcom, taking a flexible approach to the use of spectrum.
Indeed as our Spectrum Strategy will set out tomorrow, we aim to double the economic benefits of spectrum to UK companies and consumers from roughly £50 billion today, to £100 billion in 2025.
We’ll do this by allowing new applications to come online, new kinds of mobile technologies to be used, more data usage to be enjoyed and greater broadcasting services to be made available.

Beyond that we need the ideas to turn the Internet of Things from a slogan to a fact. So I have personally tasked the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser to explore what more we must do in this area.
We’re making available £73 million of funding to put the boosters under research. And I can announce today that we are launching a new European Internet of Things grant fund – valued at up to £1 million for companies that are grabbing these new opportunities.
But you know – the biggest thing the UK has to offer is our amazing companies. Like ARM, the company whose chips are in 90 per cent of smart phones around the world. Or Neul, who are here with us tonight – a brilliant new start-up in the same space.

And the expertise we bring – in chip design, in software and services that is matched by the German expertise in producing industrial components. So this is a real and rare opportunity for us.

Take British ingenuity in software, services and design add German excellence in engineering and industrial manufacturing and together we can lead in this new revolution.
So to conclude today, let me extend those 2 invitations:

1. Come to the UK and see for yourself what a fantastic environment we have for tech companies.

2. Let us join forces.

Let us in this generation make progress through technology – and let’s do it together.

Rede von Premierminister David Cameron

am 9. März 2014 auf der CeBIT in Hannover Deutschland

Was soll ich sagen – Musik, Geigen, ein schauspielender Roboter – so verbringe ich alle meine Sonntagabende!
Es ist ein Riesenvergnügen, hier zu sein, und der Kanzlerin möchte ich sagen, dass es eine große Ehre für mein Land ist, Mitgastgeber dieser Veranstaltung zu sein.

Deutschland ist ein Land mit einer stolzen Techniktradition, von den Fraunhofer-Instituten in Ihren Städten bis hin zu den Technologie-Startups in Berlin und natürlich dieser internationalen Spitzenkonferenz, die wir heute hier eröffnen.
„Vorsprung durch Technik“ – mit dieser Werbung in den Ohren sind wir alle aufgewachsen und dieses Prinzip feiern wir heute Abend.
Fortschritt durch Technik. Und der Fortschritt ist wirklich bemerkenswert.
Heute können wir einen Computer in unsere Tasche stecken, der leistungsfähiger ist als jeder Computer der Welt vor 20 Jahren.
Vor nur einem Jahrzehnt war Skype ein Tippfehler, ein Tweet Vogelgezwitscher, eine Cloud etwas, was Sie am Himmel sahen, nichts, wo Sie Ihre Daten speichern.
Firmen, die in der Garage oder im Schlafzimmer angefangen haben, sind ein Jahr später kometenhaft aufgestiegen.
Es ist eine Welt im Zeitraffer, eine Welt permanenter technologischer Revolution, und in dieser Welt werden Länder wie Großbritannien und Deutschland nur mithalten, wenn sie unermüdlich neue Ideen und Innovationen hervorbringen.
Deshalb bin ich heute hier. Und ich habe einen Auftrag und eine Botschaft.
Mein Auftrag hier auf der CeBIT ist die Förderung des außerordentlichen Technologiesektors, den wir in Großbritannien haben.
Vor vier Jahren haben wir einen langfristigen Wirtschaftsplan aufgestellt, der unser Land umstrukturieren soll. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Plans steht die Innovation.

Hier nur ein paar Beispiele für das, was wir erreicht haben:
• Wir haben die Londoner Börse dazu gebracht, dass sie es wachstumsstarken Firmen leichter macht, an die Börse zu gehen.
• Wir haben die Ausgaben für die Forschung trotz des wirtschaftlichen Abschwungs auf ihrem Niveau gehalten.
• Wir haben massive Steuervergünstigungen für die frühen Investitionsphasen eingeführt, Steuervergünstigungen für Videospiele, eine Patentbox, so dass Sie, wenn Sie in Großbritannien eine Erfindung machen, auf die Gewinne nur 10 Prozent Steuern zahlen.
Auch die Informationstechnologie der Regierung ist revolutioniert worden. Als wir ins Amt kamen, gab die Regierung pro Jahr rund £16 Milliarden – 1 Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts – für ihre Informationstechnologie aus, vor allem zugunsten großer Anbieter. Wir haben Verschwendung eliminiert und unsere IT-Verträge für kleine Firmen geöffnet.
Die G Cloud, über die wir jetzt Dienstleistungen beziehen, gehört zu den innovativsten Beschaffungssystemen der Welt.
Vor allem aber haben wir den roten Teppich ausgerollt für die Ideenmenschen der Welt: Sondervisa für Unternehmer, Visa für die Tech City, eine Regelung, wonach die Universitäten nächstes Jahr 30.000 Studenten mehr aufnehmen können und es im übernächsten Jahr überhaupt keine Beschränkungen mehr für sie gibt.
Und damit nicht genug. Wir setzen Programmieren erstmals auf den Lehrplan unserer Schulen, stecken £200 Millionen Pfund in Ausrüstung für die naturwissenschaftliche Lehre an unseren Universitäten. Und all das funktioniert.
Kommen Sie nach Shoreditch in Ostlondon und überzeugen Sie sich selbst – in der Tech City wimmelt es nur so von Startups und neuen Ideen.
Angefangen hat es vor weniger als dreieinhalb Jahren damit, dass sich in diesem Bezirk 200 Digitalunternehmen ansiedelten – heute sind es 1300.
Kommen Sie nach Cambridge oder Edinburgh oder Oxford – dort finden Sie Kompetenz-Cluster von High-Tech-Unternehmen, die unser Leben verändern. Vertreter einiger dieser Firmen waren heute Nachmittag mit mir im Flugzeug.
• Touch Bionics – die Erfinder der weltweit modernsten künstlichen fühlenden Hand
• Raspberry Pi – das Phänomen, das schon über 2,5 Millionen Geräte verkauft hat, Tendenz steigend
• Imagination – die Hersteller von Video- und Grafikchips für iPhones
Das ist die britische High-Tech-Szene von heute. Dynamisch. Schonungslos ehrgeizig. Ganz vorn dabei.
Es ist unser Ziel, Großbritannien zur digitalsten Nation in der G8 zu machen, und es ist mein Auftrag, der Welt zu zeigen, dass uns das gelingt.

Botschaft: Wir wollen mit Ihnen zusammenarbeiten

Aber ich bin auch mit einer Botschaft für unsere deutschen Freunde hierher gekommen:
• Wir wollen diese Stärken nutzen und kombinieren
• Wir wollen mit Ihnen kooperieren, unsere Ideen zusammenführen, Daten austauschen, die Innovation vorantreiben und bei den nächsten großen Ideen ganz vorn mitmischen
Ich nenne Ihnen drei Bereiche, wo wir enger zusammenarbeiten werden.
Erstens, die Entwicklung von 5G.
Bei 4G braucht es rund 40 Sekunden, um einen 800 Megabyte-Film herunterzuladen; bei 5G wäre es nur noch eine Sekunde.
Das weckt das Interesse von Forschern aus aller Welt, und deshalb freue ich mich, dass ich heute eine neue Kooperation zwischen der Universität Dresden, King’s College University in London und der University of Surrey bekannt geben kann. Drei internationale Spitzenuniversitäten arbeiten bei 5G Hand in Hand zusammen, das ist wirklich etwas Spannendes.
Zweitens muss, damit unsere beiden Länder wettbewerbsfähig bleiben können, der europäische Binnenmarkt mit den Entwicklungen in der Digitalwirtschaft Schritt halten.

Deshalb haben Deutschland und Großbritannien vereinbart, den Binnenmarkt für Telekommunikation gemeinsam zu verbessern.
Wir begrüßen die langfristigen Pläne der Europäischen Kommission, möchten aber etwas tun, was der Wirtschaft und den Verbrauchern schnell Vorteile bringt, zum Beispiel die komplette Beseitigung der Mobilfunk-Roaminggebühren.
Der dritte Bereich, in dem wir meiner Meinung nach enger zusammenarbeiten können, ist das Internet der Dinge.
Diese Entwicklungen könnten es möglich machen, dass buchstäblich Milliarden von Alltagsgegenständen über das Internet miteinander kommunizieren, und zwar mit Hilfe von billigen Chips mit niedrigem Energieverbrauch.
All das kann unser Leben enorm verändern.
Stromzähler, die im Netz nach dem besten Anbieter suchen.
Geräte, die Ihre Herzfrequenz im Auge behalten.
Wasserleitungen, die einen Druckabfall anzeigen.
Und ja – auch ein Kühlschrank, der Milch nachbestellt, wenn die Vorräte zu Ende gehen.
Ich sehe das Internet der Dinge als eine Entwicklung mit riesigem Potenzial, eine Möglichkeit, die Produktivität zu steigern, unsere Gesundheit zu erhalten, den Verkehr zu verbessern, den Energiebedarf zu senken, den Klimawandel zu bekämpfen.
Wir befinden uns an der Schwelle zu einer neuen industriellen Revolution, und wir – Großbritannien und Deutschland – sollten sie anführen.
Lassen Sie mich einmal deutlich machen, wie ernst es uns mit dem Internet der Dinge in Großbritannien ist.

Wir sorgen für eine geeignete Infrastruktur, wobei unsere Regulierungsbehörde Ofcom eine flexible Haltung gegenüber der Nutzung der Frequenzen einnimmt. Mit unserer Strategie für die Frequenznutzung, die wir morgen veröffentlichen, wollen wir den wirtschaftlichen Nutzen, der sich daraus für britische Unternehmen und Verbraucher ergibt, von rund £50 Mrd. heute auf £100 Mrd. im Jahr 2025 verdoppeln.
Das tun wir, indem wir zulassen, dass neue Anwendungen online gehen, neue Mobilfunktechnologien eingesetzt werden, Daten vermehrt genutzt werden können und Rundfunk- und Fernsehdienstleistungen ausgeweitet werden.
Aber darüber hinaus brauchen wir noch mehr Ideen, damit das Internet der Dinge Realität wird. Deshalb habe ich den Wissenschaftlichen Berater der Regierung beauftragt festzustellen, was in diesem Bereich noch geschehen muss.
Wir stellen £75 Mio. an Fördermitteln für die Forschung bereit. Und ich kann heute bekanntgeben, dass wir einen neuen europäischen Kreditfonds für das Internet der Dinge einrichten – ausgestattet mit bis zu £1 Million für Unternehmen, die diese neuen Chancen ergreifen wollen.
Aber Sie wissen ja, das Tollste, was Großbritannien zu bieten hat, sind unsere fantastischen Firmen, zum Beispiel ARM, deren Chips in 90 Prozent aller Smartphones der Welt sind, oder Neul, ein brillantes Startup-Unternehmen, das heute auch hier ist. Und das Knowhow, bei der Konstruktion von Chips, bei Software und Dienstleistungen, das dem deutschen Knowhow Deutschlands bei der Herstellung von Industriekomponenten entspricht. Deshalb ist das eine echte und seltene Chance für uns.

Britischer Erfindergeist bei Software, Dienstleistungen und Design und deutsche Kompetenz im Ingenieurwesen und der industriellen Fertigung: so können wir bei dieser neuen Revolution gemeinsam eine Führungsrolle übernehmen.
Zum Schluss möchte ich heute also zwei Bitten aussprechen:

1. Kommen Sie nach Großbritannien und überzeugen Sie sich selbst davon, was für ein fantastischen Umfeld wir für Tech-Unternehmen haben.
2. Lassen Sie uns gemeinsame arbeien.

Lassen Sie uns in dieser Generation den Fortschritt durch Technik vorantreiben – und zwar gemeinsam.

May 2012

The United Kingdom and Germany…..closer partnership in Defense and Security

The UK Secretary of Defence The Rt Hon Philip Hammond met with the Minister of Defence of Germany Dr.Thomas de Maiziere

“Germany, the Europe’s largest economy has to increase its Military effectiveness and spend more on Defence.” highlighted the Minister of Defence of Great Britain Herr Philip Hammond during his visit in Berlin.

The Secretary Defence of UK Herr Philip Hammond with Minister of Defence of Germany Dr.Thomas de Maiziere in wreath laying ceremony to honour German soldiers killed in action, Berlin. May 2012 ©Ap/dailymail.uk

“Due to Germany’s historic reluctance to Deploy Military Force and operate overseas, I think it is self-evident that there is still huge potential in German Defence structures to deliver more usable Fire-Power to the NATO ” Expressed the UK Secretary of Defence 2. May 2012 ( dailymail.uk)

Highlights from the Speech delivered by UK Secretary of State for Defence at the British Embassy, Berlin on 2 May 2012.

FACING THE FUTURE
Military power and economic power are inseparable.

This unpredictability and rapid change in the threat picture we face makes it all the more important that our respective Armed Forces, and our collective defence arrangements, are correctly configured to meet the requirements of today – and prepared, at the same time, for what is around the next corner.
And this is what I want to talk about today.

How our nations – Germany and Britain – two of the world’s largest economies, despite the immediate the economic difficulties we face – how we are responding to the security challenges that now confront us.
And why we have both embarked on an ambitious and essential transformation of our respective Armed Forces and Defence postures, not just to meet our own national security requirements, but also to meet the responsibilities we have to our allies – and more widely, to international security.

My central argument is this:
The responsibility of European nations to defend their citizens can no longer be discharged by a strategy of homeland defence and a Fortress Europe.
The threats we face are no longer territorial, so a passive defence of national territory is no longer adequate protection for our citizens.
Our security requires that we do not sit back and let threats come to us – but that we project power to meet them – wherever in the world they are forming.
So, we need to take that final step up from the defensive posture of the Cold War, to respond to a future in which threats can originate thousands of miles away, yet can be swiftly felt at home.
Much better to prevent, contain, and tackle threats at distance, than to confront their consequences on our own streets.
So the NATO Alliance, and the European part of it in particular, must continue to develop together the capability and the political will to act when necessary – to project power, including, but not limited to, military power, and to deploy it rapidly when we must.
We must do this together because no country, not even the United States, can hope to tackle successfully all the threats we face in common, by acting alone.
This is about European nations being producers of security, not merely consumers of it.
Leading from the front in our own region – and taking responsibility for what happens in our backyard.
Facing up to the future – not living in the past.
And it has become clear over this last year, particularly following the operation in Libya, just how urgent the need for transformation has become.

THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMATION
Operation Unified Protector was a coalition success, and for the people of Libya, a liberation they can justly claim to have seen through themselves.
It has reconfirmed the utility of NATO as the most successful tool for collective defence ever created.
When sustained multinational action was required by the United Nations, NATO was the only effective available coordinating mechanism.
But the Libya operation also cruelly exposed the imbalances and weaknesses in the Alliance and thus the scale of the task facing European NATO nations.
Even with the very limited nature of the Libyan campaign, the nations of Europe could not have undertaken this operation without the US shouldering much of the weight.
This should have come as no surprise.
We know what the problems are.

Too many allies are failing to meet their financial responsibilities to NATO.
Too many countries are failing to build and maintain appropriate capabilities to meet the new threats we face, or to make them available for operations.
We have known about these deficiencies for many years, and we have fretted earnestly about them.
But this time we cannot afford to brush them under the carpet and carry on as before.
Why?

Because the United States has made clear, that it intends to reflect in its strategic posture, the growing importance of the developing challenges in the Pacific.
Let me be clear about this – it is in Europe’s interest that the United States rises to the challenge that the emergence of China as a global power presents and we should support the decisions the US has made.
But that means we, the nations of Europe, must take on more responsibility for our own back yard.
Shouldering the major burden in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, but also being prepared, if necessary to take a bigger role in relation to North Africa and the Middle East.
This isn’t about the United States walking away; this is about the nations of Europe taking more of the strain of our collective defence in our own region.
Responding to the threats that most directly impact on us.
Without strong economies and sound public finances, it will be impossible to sustain in the long term, the military capability required across Europe to maintain collective defence and, when necessary, project power to confront threats as they form abroad.
But I am a realist.
And the reality is that, across the alliance, aggregate defence expenditure is certain to fall in the short term and, at best, recover slowly in the medium term.

COLLECTIVE DEFENCE

The UK’s National Security Strategy and Germany’s Defence Policy Guidelines come to the same conclusion: to tackle the threats we share in common, we need to act in common – through all the institutions that exist to provide us with a collective response – the UN, NATO, and the EU among them.

As well as being a realist, I am a pragmatist.
What matters is what works – and what is affordable.
The challenge is to produce extra military effect, and do it swiftly, without duplicating effort or reinventing proven structures that already exist.
Because institution-building consumes resources that are in short supply and deflects energies better spent making the current architecture work more effectively.

That is why, as it is for Germany, NATO is ‘the centre-piece’ of Britain’s collective defence efforts.
And, again as it is for Germany, making NATO’s Smart Defence initiative a success is our priority. The Chicago Summit is our opportunity to define more sharply what we intend to do to make it a reality.
To look beyond a limited set of short-term equipment projects, to a new way of thinking on Alliance-wide capability planning and development.
This will need to begin with a clear-sighted assessment of the current state of NATO’s collective competence, taking account of what we know of reductions already planned and how these will impact on current capabilities.
And a willingness to recognise the gap between that capability and NATO’s stated level of ambition.

This will provide a baseline against which to take the right decisions: greater pooling and sharing of capabilities; mission, role and geographic specialisation; greater sharing of technology; co-operation on logistics; and more collaborative training.
BRITAIN AND GERMANY

Similarly, the United Kingdom would welcome an enhanced defence and security relationship with Germany.

Based on the areas where we can best add to Alliance Capability through bi-lateral co-operation.
A new and stronger defence relationship, based on the challenges we will face in common in the future, not those that we shared in the past.
A relationship that delivers practical benefits and enhances our mutual security.Building on the structured dialogue that currently exists to produce concrete results based on the guiding principles we have set out together, focussed on support to operations and force deployability.
We should work towards common positions in NATO and the EU; identifying reasons for any disagreements and tackling them head on, while building on the many areas or agreement as a foundation of our future co-operation.

CONCLUSION

It is in all our interests to encourage Germany to realise that potential. I agree with Minister de Maiziere that the posture of the cold war- preparing to meet threats as they come to us – cannot deliver the security Germany needs in the 21st century.
With the US, rightly, turning to focus more of it’s attention on the pacific, we Europeans need now to step up to the plate to deliver security in our own neighbourhood, but also to project power to meet threats to our citizens as they arise abroad.
In the long run, we need to see all NATO partners meeting their financial commitments to defence.
But in the short-term, with no additional resources realistically available, we have no choice but to do things differently; focussing relentlessly on the production of deployable capability.

And developing the political will within our Nations, to allow the projection of power, including military force, to confront threats to our security, wherever they arise, and whatever form they take.
Building a European contribution to collective defence that effectively responds to the challenge articulated by Secretaries Gates and Pannetta.
And in so doing, strengthening NATO as our vehicle of choice for Multi-lateral military action.
So maintaining the transatlantic link which is the ultimate guarantee of our security, even as we resolve to do more for ourselves in Europe.

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