Any extreme threat to this continent would trigger a response from both our nations, PM Starmer said.

On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron announced that their nations had agreed to coordinate the use of their nuclear weapons in the event of an attack.

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“We signed the Northwood Declaration, confirming for the first time that we will coordinate our independent nuclear deterrence. From today, our adversaries will know that any extreme threat to this continent would trigger a response from both our nations,” Starmer said, presenting the agreement as “the greatest demonstration of the importance” of the relationship between the two countries.

“It is truly historic. I know there is a lot of attention on the migration deal we’ve signed, but the nuclear agreement is just as important because we are the two nuclear nations in Europe,” he added, emphasizing the implications of the Franco-British pact for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Macron explained that the decision responds to a “markedly more threatening environment” and noted that neither country could imagine a scenario in which aggression against Europe would not provoke a joint response from the United Kingdom and France.

“Europe must know that it can count on a strategic alliance between France and the United Kingdom,” the French president said.

The two countries also agreed to create a joint structure, the Nuclear Supplies Group, to coordinate their cooperation on atomic capabilities and operations. “Our two countries remain independent and sovereign, but we have equipped ourselves with the means, when necessary, to respond together to the threatening environment we are facing,” Macron added.

Also on Thursday, Starmer and Macron agreed that the United Kingdom will return undocumented migrants who cross the English Channel to France in exchange for accepting asylum seekers from France into the U.K.

“Today I am pleased to announce our agreement — a pioneering pilot returns model. For the first time, migrants arriving in small boats will be detained and returned to France within a short timeframe,” the British leader said.

“In exchange for each return, a different individual will be allowed to come here through a safe, controlled, legal route, subject to strict security checks and only open to those who have not attempted to enter the U.K. illegally,” Starmer added.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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