Germany’s Pistorius floats ‘European Five Eyes’ intelligence cooperation
German defence minister Boris Pistorius suggested the E5 grouping of Europe’s five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom – could expand its cooperation to have a joint tanker fleet or even establish a European version of the Five Eyes alliance.
“What can we do next? One idea could be to consider the idea of a joint tanker fleet or multi-domain taskforce, or even a European version of Five Eyes,” he said at a press conference in Kraków, Poland.
The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
Pistorius also said that Russia’s continuing attacks on Ukraine amounted to “not simply a war,” but “terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
He said that “only maximum pressure from sanctions” can make Putin “back down” from his attacks.
Key events
Zelenskyy says ‘real opportunities to end war with dignity still exist’, calls for another round of talks, and hints at leaders’ meeting
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just posted a big update after he had a chance to get a debrief on this week’s peace talks with Russia and the US in Geneva.
He said “real opportunities to end the war with dignity still exist,” and called for another round of talks to be held “very soon, as early as this February”.
Zelenskyy said “Ukraine’s responses to the most difficult questions ahead of the next meeting are ready,” and they still want to raise some issues at the leaders’ level with Trump and Putin.
“It is the leaders’ format that could prove decisive in many respects, and Ukraine is ready for such a format,” he said.
He also pointedly thanked his team for showing patience in all conversations with Russians, saying they “have not always been easy or reasonable”.
The Ukrainian president also said that “Europe is actively engaged in the process of ending the war,” and it’s role “must grow”.
Gaza’s future or Trump’s favour: what is the Board of Peace trying to secure? – video
Jakub Krupa
We spent a big part of yesterday looking at Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which continues to cause controversies in Europe (12:25).
What it is, what it is trying to secure, and will it really help Gaza?
Here’s a short video explainer:
Coalition of the Willing to meet to mark fourth anniversary of Russian full-scale invasion on Ukraine
We are just getting a line from the Élysée Palace, via Reuters, that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will preside over a video conference meeting of the Coalition of the Willing on 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the Russian full-scale aggression on Ukraine.
UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer will be the co-host.
France and Germany agreed to build the fighter jet of the future – but can’t agree who is in charge
Alex Daniel
France and Germany’s plan to build a fighter jet of the future, planned to come with a swarm of drones and a “combat communications cloud”, is collapsing.
Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said this week that the €100bn programme no longer worked for him. He insisted it was “not a political dispute”, but a technical one. France needs a jet that can carry nuclear weapons and launch from aircraft carriers, while Germany does not. However, the problems go back much further.
Known as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), the programme was announced to great fanfare in 2017 by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and then German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Spain joined in 2019.
The jet was meant to replace France and Germany’s existing fighters by 2040, equipped with stealth capabilities and surrounded by drones scouting ahead or drawing enemy fire, all sharing data in real time.
Europe already fields three competing fighter jets – the Eurofighter Typhoon, France’s Rafale and Sweden’s Gripen. Successive chief executives of the pan-European aerospace company Airbus have warned the continent must consolidate these projects. Yet the collapse of FCAS would do the opposite, with a British-Italian-Japanese Tempest project and a mooted Gripen successor already in the mix.
For a bloc that collectively spent €381bn (£333bn) on defence last year but struggles to turn that into military capability, the stakes are high. Threats from Russia are mounting and Donald Trump has told Europe it is time to pay for its own security.
But for years, the companies building the Franco-German jet have not been able to agree who is in charge.
Jakub Krupa
Let’s briefly go back to the E5 defence minister’s words on closer cooperation and all great things they can achieve together (12:53, 13:02).
As Alex Daniel will explain in a moment, it does not always work out that smoothly.
‘A momentous watershed’: Europe’s papers react to arrest of former prince Andrew
Sam Jones
Over in the UK, the papers are focusing on the arrest of the 66-year old former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and the consequences for the royal family.
My colleague Sam Jones looked also at the coverage in Europe, and discovered that neither the shock nor the historical significance of the event was lost on the European press.
And if there was one thing that correspondents and leader writers around the continent could agree on, it was that the former prince’s detention had plunged the British monarchy into a place of unprecedented danger and vulnerability.
Merz says Germany must assert itself to meet new challenges, rejects any pacts with far-right
Separately, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has addressed the national party conference of his CDU party earlier today, telling members that Germany must assert itself and take on greater responsibility as a new world order rapidly takes shape, Reuters reported.
He repeated his claim from last week’s Munich Security Conference that the rules-based international order “as we knew it no longer exists.”
“This will result in a new grand strategy for Germany in a united Europe. We are showing courage, the courage to shape the future, and the courage to assert ourselves,” he added.
Merz also reaffirmed his pledge that his party would never form a coalition with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
“We will not allow these people from the so-called Alternative for Germany to ruin our country,” he said, adding that “this party cannot be a partner of the CDU.”
Nuclear protection for Europe ‘is and will be’ provided by US, German defence minister says
Germany’s Pistorius was also asked about recent talk about Europe establishing its independent nuclear deterrence systems.
He says that while Europe needs to take more responsibility for its conventional deterrence and defence, but broader nuclear protection “is provided and will be provided by the US, at least for the foreseeable future.”
Picking up on Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz’s comments on nuclear deterrence at the Munich Security Conference last week, he said that Germany was legally bound to not have nuclear weapons.
But he said it could support defence capabilities of France and other allies “by conventional measures, but not in terms of nuclear participation – and that I think is quite clear.”
UK’s Pollard hails E5’s plan to work on new surface-to-air weapons, air defence systems
Meanwhile, UK’s junior defence minister Luke Pollard hailed the E5’s new initiative to work on advanced low-cost air defence systems, such as autonomous drones or missiles, as part of the ‘Low-Cost Effectors & Autonomous Platforms’ initiative, known as LEAP.
Its first focus will be on a new surface-to-air weapon – a lightweight, affordable weapon designed to counter the drone and missile threat, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
Speaking in Kraków, Pollard said that “it’s actions, not words, that will deter Putin,” adding that he feels confident that “this is the very first step of what we hope will be a series of initiatives under LEAP to look at how we can have ground to air and other capabilities that pulls our collective experience.”
Pollard also specifically wanted to send a message “to the people of Poland” and the Poles back in the UK, saying that they should “be in no doubt that when you need us, the UK will be there for you.”
Germany’s Pistorius floats ‘European Five Eyes’ intelligence cooperation
German defence minister Boris Pistorius suggested the E5 grouping of Europe’s five countries – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom – could expand its cooperation to have a joint tanker fleet or even establish a European version of the Five Eyes alliance.
“What can we do next? One idea could be to consider the idea of a joint tanker fleet or multi-domain taskforce, or even a European version of Five Eyes,” he said at a press conference in Kraków, Poland.
The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.
Pistorius also said that Russia’s continuing attacks on Ukraine amounted to “not simply a war,” but “terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
He said that “only maximum pressure from sanctions” can make Putin “back down” from his attacks.
EU aims to pass new round of sanctions on Russia on Monday, top diplomat Kallas says
Not much on sanctions from Brussels, but the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is speaking at the E5 meeting in Kraków and she says that the bloc still aims to pass the 20th package of sanctions on Monday, despite ambassadors failing to agree on them today (11:58).
“Next Monday, we aim to adopt the 20th sanctions package against Russia,” she said.
She insisted:
“Sanctions are working.
They are severely hurting Russia’s economy, and each new measure further limits its ability to wage the war. Moscow is not invincible. Its army is suffering record casualties, and its economy is under heavy strain.
But Putin won’t end this war until the costs are higher than the benefits, and that is the point we must reach.”