АНАЛІТИКА

17.10.2021 | Врятувавши їх у двох світових війнах, Франція Макрона тепер ворог
Бернард Інхем - The Daily Express

The Entente Cordiale, signed in 1904 after a 1,000 years of Anglo-French conflict, seems to have broken down over Brexit. Up to then it was one long tale of French reverses through Agincourt, Crecy, Trafalgar, Waterloo and two World Wars in which we were instrumental in liberating the French from the German yoke. Even as we fought to overthrow the Nazis we were at war with the collaborative Vichy French in supporting the gallant French Resistance - the Maquis.

And don’t forget our sinking of the French fleet at Oran to prevent it getting into German hands.

This is not to mention General de Gaulle vetoing our membership of the European Common Market in the1960s.


They didn’t want our Atlanticism polluting the pure waters of grand European ambition then.

Now they are like bears with a sore back because we have had the temerity to walk out on the great European project.

We are now threatened with all manner of deprivation if we don’t allow every French fisherman to plunder our waters.

Port blockades and cutting off cross-Channel electricity supplies to the UK are on their agenda and they are further piqued because they claim we owe them £50m to stop immigrants crossing the Channel.

I had not noticed that they had stopped a single immigrant from reaching the shores of our Shangri-la. In any case, they have a vested interest in getting shut of the migrants from the Middle East and Africa who are a charge on their taxpayers

All this could explain the French inferiority complex in their relations with Britain.

They have never been easy allies. Indeed, Margaret Thatcher used to say “All my problems come from Europe” after she had tamed the union barons.

This reflected her progressive disillusionment with Europe’s direction, part of which was caused by French hypocrisy and chronic German unreliability in foreign affairs.

It is one of the great ironies of history that she signed the treaty ending the Cold War in Paris of all places on the very day that her party effectively ousted her.

The problems remain.

It is not easy to imagine where French president, Emmanuel Macron, would act against France’s national interest for the common good, even though he presents itself as the great unifier of Europe.

And German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, leaves the EU beset with immigrants and at risk of Kremlin blackmail over the building of a gas pipeline from Russia.

With Merkel’s retirement - and the problems of finding a successor because of the fragmentation of German politics through proportional representation - Macron is casting himself as the 21st Century Napoleon in his drive for a federal Europe.

He is, of course, in desperate political straits, facing an election next year and a rebellious population with its propensity for violent demonstrations that make our pathetic Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Rebellion look tame, if none the less damaging.

He may well be right that goading the Brits will do him no harm at the polls.

But this only reveals his political poverty along with all who fall for his confused nationalistic/European rhetoric.


Who would have thought Macron’s problems would be intensified by Michel Barnier, the obstructive EU negotiator of Brexit?

He is now campaigning for the presidency by claiming that France has lost sovereignty to the over-mighty EU.

There is also a Grexit (German Brexit) in the making and Polish disaffection over loss of sovereignty to European courts.

A long history combined with political calculation is at the root of the current Anglo-French problem which will be intensified by our Government’s determination to get the post-Brexit EU out of Northern Ireland.

Boris Johnson is commendably playing it cool. This is because there is more statesman in his Woosterish little finger than in the entire being called Macron.

In fact, the French president is behaving irresponsibly.

The democratic West has been severely weakened by the pandemic at a time when China and Russia are flexing their muscles and Iran and the Afghanistan Taliban pose further threats.

It needs unity of purpose to defend our freedom and democracy instead of petty fratching over Brexit when Britain, in recovering its sovereignty, is in no way deserting Europe or NATO, hitherto its guarantor of security.


Yet, here again, Macron is disruptive by wanting to form a European army that could only weaken NATO.

It is time the French got rid of this pretentious bombast and showed some maturity.



USERS COMMENTS

Ваше ім'я
Ваша поштова скринька
Заголовок
Ваш відгук
Залишилось сомволів
| | | Додати в вибране
Пошук
Підписка
Центр миру, конверсії та зовнішньої політики України
Інститут євро-атлантичного співробітництва
Центр "Україна - Європейський вибір"
Defense Express
Центр європейських та трансатлантичних студій

Rambler's Top100 Rambler's Top100


Міжнародний фонд відродження Проект здійснено за підтримки
Міжнародного Фонду "Відродження"
Міжнародний фонд відродження Проект здійснено за підтримки
Центру інформації та документації НАТО в Україні
© 2004 - 2024. ЄВРОАТЛАНТИКА.UA
Всі права захищено.

Даний проект фінансується, зокрема, за підтримки Гранту Відділу зв'язків із громадськістю Посольства США в Україні. Точки зору, висновки або рекомендації відображають позиції авторів і не обов'язково збігаються із позицією Державного Департаменту США.
На головну Анонси подій Новини Аналітика Топ новини та коментарі Мережа експертів Про проект