Germany’s Merz to Sign Mutual-Defense Pact With UK on July 17

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to travel to the United Kingdom on 17 July to sign a new Anglo-German treaty, according to a Politico report confirmed by several market-monitoring services on Friday. Drafts of the accord describe a broad mutual-defence commitment under which any strategic threat to one country would be treated as a threat to the other, signalling closer security cooperation between Berlin and London five years after the UK’s departure from the European Union. Officials in both capitals are finalising the text ahead of the London signing ceremony, which would be Merz’s first bilateral visit to the UK since taking office and is expected to cover defence procurement, intelligence sharing and joint military training.