Brexit offers Ireland and France chance to boost entente cordiale
French ambassador hopes to strengthen our relationship, writes Shona Murray
‘MONDAY INTERVIEW ’ Links are huge between Ireland and France, with €10bn in trade
FRENCH Ambassador Stéphane Crouzat is no stranger to Ireland – an uncle of his moved and settled here in the 1970s and Mr Crouzat visited many times as a child.
He tells the Irish Independent that it is nice to have these family connections, but he is also energised to arrive in this country when the “future of Ireland is in flux”.
He is, of course, referring to the looming spectre of Brexit and all that entails for this island.
Mr Crouzat arrived in Dublin with his wife and one of his three children in July and handed in his credentials to President Michael D Higgins as French ambassador to Ireland in September.
Mr Crouzat says: “We’re not quite sure what will happen with Brexit, or whether it will happen at all.”
He also emphasises the implications it will have for Ireland, for Franco-Irish relations, and the future of Europe.
Mr Crouzat says that after five rounds of discussions, he feels the British are yet to “lay out their strategy”.
As far as he is concerned, there are three possibilities on the table – a hard Brexit, a soft Brexit and no Brexit, and he gives them all equal weight.
Mr Crouzat is critical of what he perceives as Britain’s initial ploy to “divide and conquer” EU member states over Brexit negotiations.
He points to how British Prime Minister Theresa May visited several EU capitals in order to engage in a charm offensive aimed at drumming up support for ‘Brexit Britain’.
He contends that the UK “didn’t realise how united” the EU member states would be when it started off negotiations.
Mr Crouzat believes the UK thought it could “pick and choose” member states to talk to and in particular try to “woo” Ireland into bi-lateral discussions.
But he maintains that all 27 member states are together and “attentive”.
Mr Crouzat contends though that French President Emmanuel Macron wants to foster even greater links between Ireland and France, while managing the threat of Brexit.
He says even the “best of minds” can see no way of resolving this matter without the UK remaining in the EU’s customs union.
The French government also says it appreciates the threat Brexit carries on the economic and political stability of the island of Ireland, in particular the “frontier” between Northern Ireland and the Republic and the need to avoid a hard Border.
Mr Crouzat said that the head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, was left scratching his head trying to figure out a solution.
In the end he just said it was “impossible” to have an invisible frontier and not have the UK as a member of the customs union.
Last week at their first official meeting at the Elysée Palace in Paris, Mr Macron and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said France would be the
closest country to Ireland after Brexit.
Mr Crouzat said: “We’re the first landing to Europe for Ireland; I think what he [Macron] meant, and what we mean, is that we want to make the most out of this difficult situation by fostering even closer links.
“Links are huge between Ireland and France, we have €10bn in trade every year in goods, we have 300 companies in Ireland, 13,000 employed by French companies, so the links are there.
“Already we’re on very fertile ground in terms of closeness in our relationship but much more can be done in this new context.”
Future plans include the EU-supported ‘Celticinterconnector’ energy link from Ireland to Brittany which will connect Ireland directly to the continental energy market and spur on further development in renewable energy.
While there is no shortage of solidarity from France on Ireland’s Brexit woes, the same can’t be said about its attitude towards our chosen tax regime. In recent weeks, exchanges between Mr Varadkar and Mr Macron have been repeatedly described as “robust” by government officials on both sides.
Mr Macron is pushing for fundamental changes to how European member states tax multinational organisations.
THE object is to put an end to aggressive avoidance policies employed by major multinational tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple by closing large tax loopholes offered as an incentive to invest in low-tax environments, like Ireland.
He also wants to ensure that these companies pay tax in the countries they do business in, and not in the low-tax destinations where their headquarters are registered, again like Ireland.
The CCCTB – Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base – is the proposal initiated by the European Commission and supported by the French government most likely to fit the bill in achieving these aims.
The Irish Government’s position, which has been repeated ad nauseam, is that Ireland agrees to “constructively engage” on such issues but will only support measures that are agreed on a global rather than EU level, through the OECD.
Mr Crouzat says the French position is simple on the issue. France feels it is “totally legitimate” that if a firm like Google makes a lot of money on French soil then the state coffers should benefit.
Mr Crouzat said it is in the EU’s interest to lead the way on the issue.
Meanwhile, the
‘Already we’re on very fertile ground in terms of closeness in our relationship but much more can be done’
ambassador also referred to Ireland’s contribution to international peacekeeping and praised the work of the Defence Forces.
He said: “There’s a lot that Ireland has done, such as sending peace-keeping troops to Chad and Mali, where France needs as much help as it can get – there’s a lot that Ireland can offer.”