French hysteria has strained our ties
Historically, Britain and France have had a problematic, often bellicose, relationship that led to much conflict over the centuries. Since the Entente Cordiale of 1904, brokered by King Edward VII, the two nations have enjoyed a less antagonistic, sometimes friendly, association punctuated by bouts of rancour. Germany’s defeat of France in 1940, the sinking of the French fleet by the Royal Navy, and Charles de Gaulle’s veto of Britain’s application to join the Common Market were low points in recent history. Once the French block was removed, shared membership of the European Union has seen a period of amity that now seems to have broken down. The question is whether it is retrievable.
Brexit seems to have unhinged the French state. The almost hysterical rant of France’s Europe minister Clément Beaune is indicative of the offended amour propre of the Parisian elite. “Stop telling us you do not need us any more, stop being obsessed with us, stop believing we will solve your problems,” he said. “They made a mess of Brexit. It’s their choice and their failure, not ours.”
It is hard to know where to begin to deconstruct the psychology behind this extraordinary set of assertions. Mr Beaune is said to be a close ally of Emmanuel Macron so can legitimately be held to reflect the president’s views. With Euroscepticism strong in France, as it has long been, despite the state’s efforts to pretend otherwise, Mr Macron wants to exaggerate the consequences to voters who may be tempted to vote for a candidate prepared to exploit these misgivings.
Ironically, they include Michel Barnier, scourge of the UK during the Brexit talks, who is astonishingly campaigning for the presidency on a platform complaining of the loss of sovereignty to an over-mighty Brussels. He is suggesting France should no longer be subject to the judgments of the European Court, even though as EU negotiator he insisted the UK should remain under its suzerainty despite its departure from the bloc.
The French government is threatening to cut off UK electricity in a row over fishing rights and accuses Britain of not paying the £50million they were promised to stop immigrants crossing the Channel, on the not unreasonable basis that they are still coming in droves. Meanwhile, France is trying to replace English as the lingua franca of the EU. When it comes to obsessing, they should first cast out the beam in their own Gallic eye.