'Restatement of historic commitment: Renegotiate important Franco-British bilateral agreements'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Hello, you're tuned in to Paris Direct on France 24. I'm Karis Garland. Thanks for joining us.

00:06Here's a look at our top stories.

00:09French President Emmanuel Macron has touched down in the United Kingdom for a three-day visit,

00:14the first state visit to the country by an EU leader since Brexit.

00:20Israel's Defense Minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on

00:25the ruins of Rafa in what human rights groups warn is part of an effort to expel the population.

00:33And over 1,000 firefighters are battling a blaze in the south of France that's burned

00:372,000 hectares and damaged several homes. Also coming up in business, 14 countries receive

00:46letters from Donald Trump with new tariffs set to come in to effect on August 1st. We'll look at

00:51the cases of South Korea and Japan and why finding a deal could be complicated.

01:10French President Emmanuel Macron has touched down in the United Kingdom, kicking off the first state

01:15visit to the country by an EU leader since Brexit. The President and his wife Brigitte Macron will enjoy

01:21various displays of British pomp and pageantry, greeted first by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

01:28But Macron will also address British Parliament and hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister

01:34Keir Starmer. Macron posted to social media shortly after landing, saying the state visit was an important

01:40moment for our two countries and also a significant moment for our Europe, adding the bond is long-standing,

01:47forged by history and strengthened by trust. Well, discussions between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron

01:54are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending as well as irregular

02:01migration. For more on this story, we can bring in Andrew Smith, who's an expert on French politics

02:07and history at Queen Mary University. Thank you very much for speaking to us on France 24. First of all,

02:14can we read this visit as a statement that French and British relations are back on track after years

02:20of bad blood? Absolutely. This is a really important reset. This is a marker. Gone are the days of the

02:30turbulence of Boris Johnson, of course, the upset and the crises around Brexit in 2020, the AUKUS

02:37submarine deals in 2021, and even the kind of, I think, rather ropey premiership of Liz Truss when

02:45she tried to kind of throw some sort of doubt on whether or not France was actually an ally. I think

02:52this is very much a sense that this is a restatement of that historic commitment. Those ideas of

02:58bilateral links, of course, last year, it was the century or the centenary, I should say, of the

03:04Entente Cordiale, that old agreement between Britain and France, that declaration of bilateral

03:11friendship. And that's really something that's important today. As you said, I think there are

03:15three key priorities which come around just now. Of course, the historic importance and that

03:21relationship around bilateralism and the increased importance of defence in the agenda. And likewise,

03:29this idea of, of course, as we've seen in the news in recent weeks, the issue of immigration as well.

03:34So a really important moment, a reset, a restatement, a moment to renegotiate, I think, some very, very

03:40important bilateral agreements between Britain and France.

03:44But are there not still challenges, though? I mean, on that issue of illegal migration,

03:48London has for years tried to push France to do more to stop those small boat crossings across

03:54the Channel. And we're expecting an announcement regarding agreements on this. But are we about

03:59to see a change in policy from the French?

04:03I think, of course, it's been a really fraught issue. And of course, the number of crossings

04:08has gone up this year. And we've seen a number of challenges. Of course, what we've seen as of

04:16February, where the kind of the initial agreement we had has been kind of pushed forward by another

04:24year, extended for another year, the kind of Sandhurst agreement. But of course, if you've been

04:30watching the British news over the last couple of weeks, you've seen real developments in that

04:34changes in French policing priorities. Of course, there was a very famous images of French police

04:40wading into the shallow water to deal with this new phenomenon of taxi boats moving along the coast

04:46and slashing boats in shallow water. That's a very different change in policing, stepping into the

04:52water, changing that type of approach. Now, there are real dangers within that. And of course,

04:57there are hopes on the British side that the French can be pushed towards greater intervention,

05:01perhaps, you know, up to 300 metres off the coast. And there might be some type of interception

05:06or engagement. And on the French side, they're looking to really kind of push that agreement,

05:11modelling it on the agreement of the between the EU and Turkey. And that includes the UK providing

05:18funding and Bruno Rettayot, the interior minister is looking for a different kind of funding envelope

05:23coming from the UK to provide things from everything from binoculars to quad bikes to help police

05:28the border.

05:30Andrew Smith, I'm just going to stop you there if I can. We're getting live footage of the president being

05:36greeted by King Charles, along with his wife, Camilla Brigitte Macron, of course, also there.

05:43We're just going to take a look at those pictures. Now we can see a few handshakes

05:47going on there. And Andrew Smith, I wanted to ask you how much of this is

05:53the King Charles and Macron show? I mean, the pair are thought to have a warm relationship.

05:58Yeah, absolutely. King Charles has mentioned in the past that his longstanding affection for France

06:05has really shaped his life. This is something I think we will see a real attempt to woo the French

06:13again. Of course, this is set against the promised state visit for Donald Trump, second state visit.

06:20Of course, Emmanuel Macron will be staying over. He's visiting Windsor Castle. There are banquets.

06:25This is about a recognition of historic bonds, and it becomes a really important part.

06:30It recognises the UK and France are, you know, Europe's nuclear powers. They have a seat in the

06:36permanent seats in the Security Council, the UN Security Council. They'll be going and visiting

06:41in Leng Reiths at statues of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. This recognises that historic

06:46entanglement around really important issues of defence. You can see Macron will be speaking in

06:52Parliament. You'll be on a state dinner. This is about recognising the bonds between the two

06:57countries. I think it's a really important ceremonial statement of that at the same time.

07:02But of course, there'll be other issues on the agenda. They'll be addressing, you know,

07:05the coalition of the willing around the support for Ukraine, talking about how to manage Donald

07:10Trump. There's some differences there as well, as well as, of course, this immigration issue we

07:14mentioned before. So there is ceremony. And I think there's a lot of business to be done

07:17alongside this at the same time. And in recent months, Macron has pivoted more

07:23and more towards the world stage, kind of spearheading those efforts that you mentioned

07:28to end the war in Ukraine, for example, holding a phone call with Vladimir Putin for the first

07:32time in a long time. Do you see this trip sort of, you know, desire to get away from domestic

07:39troubles for Macron? Or is this sort of a reminder as what an alternative to Macron as president

07:45could be? I think it certainly helps distract from the ongoing political crisis emerging

07:52around the government in France. François Bayrou's government, of course, since the failure of

07:58the conclave of pensions, we've seen the left kind of pull away, survived that vote there.

08:03But we're aware that it seems in some way that there is this sort of ticking clock on François

08:08Bayrou's time as prime minister. Perhaps we'll see Emmanuel Macron return to dissolve the

08:14legislative assembly, perhaps sometime towards the end of the year on the same type of timing

08:20we saw with the nomination of Barnier, Michel Barnier as prime minister at that time. Maybe

08:28around October, you could look for something like that. So yeah, really, this helps. But

08:32Macron has leaned back into the reserved presidential duties around foreign policy, looking to lead

08:39on Ukraine. As we see, for example, the US pulling back on the supply of anti-air missiles because

08:46they're worried about their stockpiles. We see a restatement of that importance by the French and

08:51the British around supporting Ukrainian military needs. We'll see a kind of a restatement of those

08:59at Northwood, UN, sorry, NATO Maritime Command at Northwood around, you know, restating the

09:07importance of French and British leadership with Germany, with Poland to support.

09:13Andrew Smith, we can just hear then the French national anthem being played for Macron and Brigitte

09:20at Windsor Castle. We're going to just take a listen.

09:50There we are, the military band playing the French national anthem there. As we just heard,

10:13Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron will from Windsor Castle go on to ride in a grand carriage procession

10:19for further engagements. Andrew Smith, just a last question. While we were getting into the weeds

10:25of French politics there, how much of this willingness, I suppose, to tackle illegal migration

10:34across the English Channel a bit further, how much of that has to do with the relatively new

10:40interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, who's known for taking a hard line on immigration?

10:44Well, of course, you mentioned Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister. He's also, of course,

10:50the recently elected president of his party, L'Evente Biblique, the centre-right party,

10:55pushing that very firm line on security, looking himself to the potential of a 2027 run at the

11:01presidency. So I think for Retailleau, it is a very important statement of priorities and trying to

11:07deliver on that. For Macron, this is an important image around bilateralism, around cooperation,

11:12around solving some of these enduring problems. And it represents, I think, a grown-up response

11:17to something which has been a lingering issue since Britain's exit from the European Union.

11:22This is the kind of scrappy end of that. And these are the things, I think, that need to be addressed

11:27within this wider network of relationships between Britain and France. There are pressing,

11:32immediate political needs. There are longer-term, historic, diplomatic needs. But this is very much

11:37a Franco-British story in the wake of this post-Brexit reset.

11:42Indeed. Andrew Smith, thank you very much for your analysis. You're an expert on French politics

11:46and history at Queen Mary University. We're going to have to leave it there.

Category

Transcript

Recommended