Although Emmanuel Macron has been President of France for a number of years now, I haven't heard anything about him that has made me feel strongly about him, one way or the other- until autumn 2021. Anglo-French relations have been under the spotlight more recently, and appear to be at their worst for quite a while. Earlier in the autumn, Britain was negatively linked by France with the AUKUS agreement between the UK, Australia and USA over submarine support lent to Australia by the UK and USA, implicitly to boost their collective presence in the Asia-Pacific region to counter Chinese power there. As a consequence of this agreement, ongoing negotiations between Australia and France on submarines were brought to a halt, at France's expense. In retaliation, France criticised AUKUS and recalled its ambassadors to both Australia and the USA for a time (Britain avoided this, getting off lighter). Nevertheless, whilst AUKUS (an acronym reflecting a combination of the initials of the countries involved) worked in some ways to the detriment of France, it was all a consequence of the decisions of Australia as a sovereign state, which it is therefore perfectly entitled to do, on the basis of what is in their best national interest. Moreover, seeing as the three AUKUS countries are allies of France, any cooperation and consolidation among allies should be seen in a larger context as part of a greater good. France's negative response however instead seems to have shown the country in a bad light, and indicates an almost childish bitterness over being left out...
Then, playing out over a longer period have been specifically Anglo-French tensions over migrants crossing the English Channel from France to the UK. This route, involving migrants climbing aboard very small boats in greater numbers than they should, should not be encouraged as a way of settling into the UK: it puts migrants' lives in danger, and strains the resources of the UK and France. It seems that some cooperation was achieved, with French police taking action to prevent some migrants from crossing the English Channel; but the effectiveness of this appears to be very limited, with a majority still making it across, incentivising more people to follow in their footsteps, and implying that paying the equivalent of thousands of pounds is a price worth paying by migrants, as the ends justify the means if they successfully make it across the Channel. This issue affects both countries, and should involve constructive cooperation; however, this weekend, it appears that France has revoked an invitation to Britain's home secretary to visit and discuss this, to retaliate against a letter stating British aims for these talks being made public. Again, as with the AUKUS situation, this seems to portray France as prioritising petty ill-feeling over achieving solutions for the greater good.
There has been speculation that France, under President Macron's leadership, has been particularly prickly of late because Macron is standing for re-election next year, and wants to come across as a strong leader when handling international issues. However, I don't know how the French generally feel about Macron and his handling of the abovementioned issues, but I think I would personally be embarrassed by the petulant image he has presented through his comments and actions.
The relationship between Britain and France is a long one of mutual importance, with valuable trade and military ties, as well as cultural ones. In spite of Brexit, Britain's relationship with other European countries (particularly those in the European Union) will always be important and, as a leading country of both the EU and NATO, France is particularly important to the UK. For a long time there seem to have been three key sets of international relationships for the UK: with Europe, with the USA, and with former empire/current Commonwealth countries. In Europe, France is bound to be one of the most important relationships the UK will focus on- potentially the most important. I therefore look forward to a time when Anglo-French relations are a lot more positive and constructive, recognising what a positive impact this relationship can have in Europe and beyond; and hopefully petty bickering can become a thing of the past that we look back on and laugh at, rather than endure to everyone's detriment. It is often said that Macron is keen to undermine Britain in response to Brexit; but pettiness is surely never going to encourage the British to regret leaving the EU (in fact, the opposite). Moreover, just as Brexit was divisive in the UK, and "remainers" here have had to accept the result and make the best of it, I would hope that pro-remain politicians around the world would similarly accept that Brexit has happened and look to recreate relationships for the greatest mutual benefit possible. Causing disruption between the UK and EU, seemingly out of spite, surely doesn't send the message that the EU is an organisation to admire, and that countries should aspire to join?
