Vitriolic France seems intent on trashing the precious Franco-British relationship
As someone who has spent most of his adult life studying and writing about France, who has a partly French family, who speaks French and could reasonably be described as a Francophile, I admit that I find it difficult to understand the stream of bile aimed at Britain that now issues almost daily from the French political elite.
Now, I understand the anger, the disappointment, the frustration, the humiliation. Brexit threw a giant spanner into the works of France’s greatest project, European integration – something the French state has worked at for nearly a century. Its politicians and pundits proclaimed that Britain after Brexit was heading for economic disaster and political isolation. Despite the best efforts of the Remainer diehards to talk up every problem, and even labelling every success as “despite Brexit”, we have been outpacing Europe over Covid and, hence, economically, too. Casting off the EU’s cumbersome medical regulatory regime enabled us to develop and use an effective vaccine at lightning speed – a vaccine Emmanuel Macron did his utmost to discredit.
Then came the humiliation for France – and particularly for its present politicians – of the Aukus agreement, in which it was summarily dropped from a new alignment of Anglophone countries in the Pacific. This after President Macron had boasted that France was Europe’s leading naval power and a major presence in the Pacific, the new centre of the world, in a century in which, he said, the great issues would be decided not on land but at sea. So, all in all, one can appreciate that the French are very annoyed and that they intensely dislike some of their British counterparts.
But this is not the same as using the violent and provocative language that has become the norm in French pronouncements on Franco-British relations over the past few months. Although the anti-Boris/pro-EU media in the UK try to put the blame for deteriorating relations on both sides, or indeed on Britain, there has been no similar slanging from Whitehall. But French politicians now use the sort of language that one might expect from a tinpot dictatorship, not from a mature democracy and ally. Insults (directed personally at “liar” and “clown” Boris Johnson), threats and (to be polite) inaccurate statements have become the norm. Some of this comes from rank-and-file members of parliament or local politicians, and if it stopped there, it could be discounted.
Politicians use language one might expect from a tinpot dictatorship, not a mature democracy and ally
They apply General de Gaulle’s formula for dealing with the British: ‘Bang the table and they back down’
But we now regularly hear Anglophobic comments, public and pseudo-private, from senior figures, such as would-be president Xavier Bertrand, and even from ministers, including the veteran foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, the young Europe minister, Clément Beaune, and from Emmanuel Macron himself. Indeed, the president has just caused a minor stir by reportedly calling Johnson a gougnafier – an amusingly archaic term, much favoured by my wife’s grandmother, and which my dictionary defines as good-for-nothing, insignificant and without manners or social graces.
The cynical might put this down to political game-playing in the run-up to an election. If so, it doesn’t seem to be working very well, as the French press shows little interest, and even comes close to siding with Britain on occasions. But in any case, it has gone far beyond the usual politicking. It seems to show that the French political class will risk sacrificing their (very important) relationship with Britain to other priorities – such as Macron’s desire to show himself as the EU’s strongman.
But speculation aside, let us look briefly at some of the recent outbursts.
First, over fishing. The EU signed, on behalf of all its members, an agreement on fishing rights that gave much to the EU, and especially to France, which has taken the lion’s share of licences to fish in British waters. Britain has been applying the agreed rules, which require that EU boats wishing to fish in British waters prove that they have done so in the past. The French government, with bluster and (arguably illegal) threats to cross-Channel trade and power supplies, demand that this should be set aside, and licences given in effect to any French boat that asks. They ignore the terms of the agreement, including that which gives the EU the sole right to negotiate.
Next, Northern Ireland. On this matter, in contrast, they insist that nothing in the Northern Ireland Protocol can be altered, although the text itself says the opposite. On fishing, the agreement is rubbished as a mere scrap of paper; over Northern Ireland, Paris’s interpretation becomes holy writ.
Macron has now taken a serious and dangerous step further, proclaiming that the single market, and hence the EU itself, is at stake (it isn’t: the amount of cross-border trade is tiny), and that it is a matter of peace or war in Ireland – a recklessly inflammatory inflation of language when pro-EU politicians have long insisted that peace was their ultimate aim.
Finally, the question of illegal cross-Channel migration. First, the French claimed that they were doing everything they possibly could to stop it – until videos appeared of French police standing by watching embarkations. This in a country in which even an old-age pensioners’ rally would be escorted by an ample force of riot police. Also it emerged that people traffickers had long been buying rubber boats at Decathlon
– and no one had noticed? So then the tone changed: it was all Britain’s fault, alleged the interior minister, for having such an attractive labour market (unlike France’s, one presumes).
Perhaps realising this was not a wise argument to pursue, especially given the official line that post-Brexit Britain is (in Macron’s words) catastrophique, Beaune then weighed in with the grossly insulting accusation that working in Britain was “modern slavery” (so migrants are attracted by slavery?) This is an old French trope: France has regulations, Britain has anarchy. So the only reason migrants go to Britain is that they have no identity papers and can work illegally – so says the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, backed up by Darmanin.
The problem with this argument is that it is untrue, as MM Beaune and Darmanin, if they are up to their jobs, must know, as studies by the EU have shown it. In fact, Britain has the third-lowest level of illegal working in Europe, behind only Germany and Luxembourg, and slightly over half the EU average. The European Commission has even commended Britain’s 2015 law against modern slavery, and one French newspaper has praised action against sweat shops taken by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary.
So why the unprecedented level of public insults and provocation?
As I said earlier, I find it troubling to explain. Macron’s personality must be a large part of the story. He is widely disliked in France for what is perceived as arrogance, and he has a long record of tactless comments. He could tell his ministers to stop this language if he wished. But the most persistent offender, Beaune, is a close associate and little more than Macron’s mouthpiece. I have to conclude, with regret, that the present French government is deliberately trashing the FrancoBritish relationship, at least as important to France as to us.
The only logic I can imagine behind this is that they think that, if they keep the pressure up, Boris Johnson and his government will be damaged enough so that eventually some pro-EU replacement will turn the UK back (however long it takes) towards docility with regard to Brussels and Paris. That would indeed be a huge prize, for which they might be willing to take huge risks. So they apply General de Gaulle’s formula for dealing with the British: “Bang the table and they back down.” Unless of course the motive is nothing more than Macron’s petulant vanity.
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