Sunak and Macron scramble to reset relations after era of Johnson calling the French 'turds' 🔎 Analysis by LeoCendro
Georgina Wright, director of the Europe programme at the Institut Montaigne think tank in Paris, says the priority for the summit is mostly about rebuilding trust after years of strain. “This really is about resetting the relationship and setting a roadmap for what follows. We will see at the next summit whether this rapprochement has paid off,” she says.
The UK’s Ambassador to France, Menna Rawlings, has admitted that the mood has improved dramatically. “I genuinely feel we are in a much better place, for all sorts of reasons,” she said. “Among other things, the war in Ukraine has served to remind us all of our closeness as friends, allies and partners and that we do share values and interests.”
This arrangement has been struck despite the differences in perception over the crossings. London says the jump in small boat crossings, from 28,500 in 2021 to 45,000 last year, was in part due to lax French surveillance. However, Paris believes Britain is overreacting, pointing out that France received around three times as many asylum claims as the UK annually, while the EU as a whole is hosting around four million Ukrainian refugees.
Peter Ricketts, a former British Ambassador to France, says the UK’s political focus will be on the small boats issue. “But the real message should be Europe’s two main military powers united on supporting Ukraine and working together on the implications for European security,” he said.
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