OPINION

Macron and Sunak could be on the verge

of ending the cross-Channel hostility
Mending Anglo-French relations seems a matter of priority, even as both
leaders are facing intense domestic pressures

COLIN RANDALL

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T he thaw in Anglo-French relations has begun. For the first time
in five years, a British prime minster will attend a summit with a
French president.

After an inglorious spell of frostiness, characterised by Boris

Johnson’s boorishness, Liz Truss’s belligerence and ill-concealed
French contempt for Britain’s departure from the EU, there are signs
that Britain’s Rishi Sunak and France’s Emmanuel Macron can work
together.

They will meet in Paris on March 10. If reports from France, so far
unconfirmed by Buckingham Palace, are accurate, the summit will be
followed by a state visit by King Charles, his first official overseas trip
since becoming monarch, at the end of the month.

It would be premature to attach weighty significance to these two

events. Such has been this period of cross-Channel hostility, the
diplomatic equivalent of a quarrel between intransigent neighbours,
that the iceberg of distrust may be slow to melt. Talk of a blossoming
bromance between two leaders with much in common probably
owes more to journalistic cliche than reality. Yet, there is ample
evidence that Mr Sunak and Mr Macron share a spirit of pragmatic
respect.

And both have pressing problems with restless electorates.

In Britain, workers – especially in public services – have turned deep-

rooted grievances over pay and conditions into a winter of
discontent comparable with the last spell of James Callaghan’s
Labour government in the late 1970s. Strikes by a wide range of
employees – including nurses, ambulance drivers, railway workers,
postal staff and immigration officers, with junior doctors and
teachers planning stoppages – are causing nationwide disruption.

Millions of households are suffering from wretched increases in the

 Millions of households are suffering from wretched increases in the
cost of living. The crisis has been aggravated by fall-out from war in
Ukraine and the economic legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has
been deepened – as are so many of Britain’s woes – by the
predictable (and predicted) failure of Brexit to deliver on the promise
of quick and easily won benefits.

Ambulance workers on the picket line outside Croydon Street Ambulance Station in
Bristol. Thousands of members of Unison, Unite and the GMB unions are set to walk out
across England and Wales. PA

It is clear that both Across the English Channel,

leaders will need Mr Macron struggles with the
nerves of steel to move sullen refusal of workers to
forward from strikes and the accept his core objective of
rejection of reforms pushing through unpopular
pension reforms. His
government was apparently
taken by surprise when more than a million people turned out to
demonstrate against the proposed changes on January 19, with
isolated but illegal power cuts imposed as part of the mobilisation.

In reality, Mr Macron is seeking fairly mild reforms. His plan would

:
 In reality, Mr Macron is seeking fairly mild reforms. His plan would
increase the age of retirement from 62 to 64 in stages between 2027
and 2030, and raise from 41.5 to 43 years the qualifying period of
work before a full pension is payable. But the eight major unions are
implacably opposed and are preparing for a protracted trial of
strength.

The stakes are high for Mr Macron, whose fundamental strategy

must prevail if the remaining four years of his mandate are not to be
judged a failure. While some reports suggest that with 60-70 per
cent of voters against him, he may be edging towards offering
concessions, he cannot afford to be forced into retreat on the key
principles of his reforms.

It is clear that the French and British leaders will need nerves of
steel, and probably a reluctant willingness to compromise, in order to
move forward from strikes and the rejection of reforms.

Mr Sunak’s battle for the hearts and minds of voters is complicated

by the relentless stream of scandals associated with the government
and governing Conservatives. He has ordered an ethics investigation
over the tax affairs of his party chairman Nadhim Zahawi, who was
forced to accept a punitive settlement with the authorities over a
“careless, not deliberate” underpayment of his dues. Now it has
emerged that a Conservative donor, Richard Sharp, helped Boris
Johnson, at the time prime minister, secure a loan of up to £800,000
(about $983,000) weeks before being handed the job of chairman of
the BBC.

Both Mr Zahawi, the Baghdad-born son of Iraqi Kurds, and Mr Sharp,

a former banker, deny any wrongdoing. But the latest controversies,
and Mr Sunak’s two fixed-penalty fines – for a breach of Covid-19
rules and, now, for not wearing a car seat belt – sit uneasily with his
famous pledge, on taking office, to lead a government of “integrity,
professionalism and accountability at every level”.
:
 So far, Mr Macron and Mr Sunak have been reasonably successful in

presenting themselves as resolute.

Protesters wield flares and CGT labour union flags during a demonstration against French
government's pension reform plan in Nice. Reuters

Mr Sunak has made strenuous efforts

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Keir Starmer, Brexiteer
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to restore order to the government’s
economic management after the wild
and hugely damaging mini-budget of
his predecessor as prime minister, Ms
Truss, and her chancellor of the
exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng. Mr
Macron still seems to possess one of
the cooler heads among European

But much also depends of their ability to demonstrate a recognition

of the need to listen with understanding to their voters’ grievances.
Mr Macron misjudged the mood of the electorate over pensions and
Mr Sunak should accept that he must do much better in response to
disputes than rigidly pursuing what is widely seen as new anti-strike
:
 disputes than rigidly pursuing what is widely seen as new anti-strike

legislation.

There is another issue, of interest to Britain and France, that could

prolong the troubled relations between the two countries. France,
along with most of Europe, sees Brexit as incompatible with the
Good Friday Agreement that brought a fragile peace to Northern
Ireland. The British government, driven by pro-union sentiment, is
unhappy with the post-Brexit protocol setting trading rules with the
aim of avoiding a risky “hard border” between the Irish Republic,
which is in the EU, and Northern Ireland. Diplomatic observers say
France wants the matter resolved before it will commit to long-term
co-operation in other areas.

A French presidential aide has been quoted as describing the visit by

King Charles as “an opportunity to show the age-old attachment of
his country to ours, beyond Brexit, and to be part of the family
continuity, because Elizabeth II was Francophile and French-
speaking”.

That, in itself, would be a welcome progression from the irrational

spite and obstinacy of the past few years of Anglo-French discord.

But the leadership summit is arguably far more important. With so

many headaches to face in the day-to-day running of their countries,
Mr Macron and Mr Sunak will have plenty to discuss when they sit
down for their tete-a-tete at the Elysee Palace.
:
 King Charles III will soon be headed to France on a state visit. AFP

Published: January 26, 2023, 9:00 AM

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