Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
May, Macron focus on terrorism
U.K. leader, shadowed by election woes, pays visit to France
PARIS — British Prime Minister Theresa May wants to escape the European Union; French President Emmanuel Macron wants to embolden it. The two leaders held talks Tuesday from opposite sides of the exit front line.
But the talks were shadowed by a common enemy: terrorism.
May arrived in Paris with her leadership hobbled by election losses last week just as the U.K. heads into tough talks on leaving the European Union.
She was greeted by Macron in the Elysee courtyard and met with the president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, in the palace’s vestibule before a joint working dinner.
While May struggles to hold on to power, Macron is on the ascendancy, with his year-old party poised to win a huge majority in parliamentary elections Sunday. That would fortify Macron’s standing in Europe as he tries to push the remaining EU nations to stand tough in negotiations with Britain, and to unite even more closely as Britain departs the EU.
May is traveling to France “in a significantly weakened position” because of her election setback and will be watched closely by Macron and other EU leaders, said Joseph Dobbs, a research fellow at the European Leadership Network in London.
“Nearly a year on from the Brexit vote, Europeans are understandably confused by what Britain wants. That was true a week ago, and it’s more true now after the vote,” he said, using the popular term for Britain’s exit. “It’s gotten an awful lot more confusing.”
With British officials suggesting they won’t be able to formally start the exit negotiations next week as planned, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said Tuesday that “the European Union is ready to start negotiations as soon as the British side is, too.”
The May-Macron meeting in Paris was expected to focus instead on deepening counterterrorism cooperation.
The U.K. and France face similar challenges in fighting homegrown Islamic extremism and share similar scars from deadly attacks that rocked London; Manchester, England; and Paris.
Notably, the two leaders are talking about ways to push tech companies to better police online extremism. Macron’s office said the leaders will discuss anti-terrorism efforts both bilaterally and on a European level.
After the Islamic State recruited hundreds of French fighters largely through online propaganda, France introduced legislation ordering French providers to block certain content, but it acknowledges any such effort must reach well beyond its borders. Macron has lobbied for tougher European rules, but details of his plans remain unclear.
It’s also unclear what Britain wants to propose. The country already has tough measures such as a law known informally as the Snooper’s Charter, which gives authorities the powers to look at the Internet browsing records of everyone in the country. Among other things, the law requires telecommunications companies to keep records of all users’ Web activity for a year, creating databases of personal information that the firms worry could be vulnerable to leaks and hackers.
The chance to stand in solidarity with the French president against terrorism will come as a “welcome reprieve” for May and serve to remind people that she is still prime minister despite her political woes, Dobbs said.
After their talks, May and Macron were to watch a France-England soccer match that will honor victims of the recent attacks in Manchester and London, with a moment of silence and the Oasis song “Don’t Look Back in Anger” played by the French Republican Guard.
Three attackers mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed people in nearby Borough Market on June 3. Eight people were killed and dozens more injured. On May 22, a man detonated a bomb as crowds were leaving an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people.
France’s players were touched by the overwhelming show of support they received from England fans when they played an exhibition match at Wembley Stadium on Nov. 17, 2015— just four days after attacks hit a Paris stadium, cafes and a rock concert, killing 130 people. England fans that night sang along with the French anthem.