UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is visiting Berlin on Thursday for his first face-to-face meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. During this meeting, the two leaders will launch a new UK-Germany joint security partnership aimed at countering sabotage, cyberattacks, and other hybrid threats through enhanced information-sharing and coordinated monitoring, deterrence, and disruption capabilities. This initiative is in response to various hybrid security threats facing Europe, particularly from Russia.
Ahead of the visit, Burnham stated, "Attacks on our infrastructure, our businesses and our democracies are not a distant threat. They reach into people's homes and workplaces, and they are designed to make us weaker and more divided." He emphasized that Britain and Germany are collaborating to find, expose, and disrupt these activities.
The discussions will also cover support for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion, the conflict in the Middle East, and the resulting economic disruptions. Additionally, the leaders will convene a UK-Germany Regional Growth Forum to promote investment and strengthen industrial partnerships between the two countries.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is also on a state visit to France, where he is meeting President Emmanuel Macron, who is nearing the end of his final term in office. The German parliament, or Bundestag, is set to discuss a reform of the tax system aimed at benefiting families and those on lower incomes.