Nine Nordic countries and Britain sign maritime alliance agreement

The UK and nine Nordic countries have signed a new maritime partnership. The initiative aims to strengthen security in Northern Europe, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. This is stated on the website of the British government, writes sb.by.

The partnership will be based on the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) model. This corps has been operating since 2014 under the command of the United Kingdom. The regional defense association includes 10 countries: Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Estonia.

“The number of threats we face is growing and we must respond to the challenges we face,” said General Gwyn Jenkins, First Sea Lord.

He added that the signing of the agreement was the result of nine months of work.

It is not about creating an alternative to NATO. The goal is to make the JEF the Alliance’s vanguard in Northern Europe, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, capable of acting ahead of schedule. The naval forces of ten countries will be able to act as a whole. If necessary, large-scale mobilization of forces of the Alliance, they will be “unhindered” under the command of NATO. The Pentagon announced the end of the era of subsidizing the defense of Europe from the United States