French President Emmanuel Macron qualified this Friday’s bilateral summit with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “new beginning” for the relationship between the two countries, overshadowed by the Brexit process.
“It’s a time of reunion, healing and new beginnings”Macron said at the start of a joint press conference at the Élysée Palace, where today’s meeting is taking place.
For his part, Sunak acknowledged that the Franco-British relationship “has faced challenges in recent years”, but described Macron as a “friend of the United Kingdom”.
“I believe that today’s meeting marks a new beginning, a renewed entente. We look to the future”creased.
The bilateral summit between Sunak and Macron, this Friday in Paris, took place after a five-year interregnum.
This was seen as an opportunity to restore relations tarnished by post-Brexit tensions, as well as strengthen military and commercial ties and tighten measures to combat migrant crossings across the English Channel.
Sunak was accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Interior, Transport, Environment and Energy Security, who met with their respective counterparts.
At the top of the agenda were the migration crisis in the English Channel and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking about this conflict, Macron said that the French and British rulers share the idea that Russia cannot win and that it is necessary “to ensure that Russia’s invasion does not spread”.
The two countries pledged to cooperate in training Ukrainian soldiers, namely the navy, and to strengthen support to “put Ukrainian friends in the best possible situation” in the face of the Russian invader.
In the military field, the two countries intend to strengthen shared capabilities, particularly in the future of anti-navigation missiles and cruise missile systems.
Other areas in which the French head of state indicated cooperation are energy, namely the construction of nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom by the French state-owned company EDF, and the development of renewable energy sources.
The United Kingdom and France are the largest European contributors to NATO, the only permanent European members of the UN Security Council and the only nuclear powers in the region.
The two countries have a close cooperation on security and defense, which was strengthened in 2010 with the Lancaster House Treaties, which established the Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF).
In political terms, the UK has joined Macron’s blueprint for a European Political Community, a new forum aimed at increasing security and prosperity across the continent.
Launched in October, it brings together current EU members, aspiring partners in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as well as Britain and Turkey.
The UK has proposed hosting the fourth meeting of the European Political Community in 2024.
Source: DN
