Gérard Errera: A pact to end Europe’s Thousand Years’ War
[The writer was France’s ambassador to the UK and is now special adviser to the Blackstone Group.]
Rejoice, rejoice. The occasions to celebrate are scarce these days. So let’s not be parsimonious with the good news: at their summit on Tuesday France and Britain embarked on a sweeping co-operation on defence in all fields, from joint expeditionary forces to unmanned air systems, from cybersecurity to aircraft carriers. Why such a miracle? Even if budgetary constraints have played a role, they do not explain the signing of a formal treaty and a detailed declaration that goes so far as to express a shared will to co-operate even on the sensitive area of nuclear deterrence.
It may seem surprising given their prickly history over the centuries, but it should not be. France and Britain account for half of Europe’s defence budget and two-thirds of its research and technology spending in this area. It is about time they co-operated.
Nor is it a complete revolution. Twelve years ago Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair made the St Malo declaration, which resulted from a painful realisation: the end of the cold war meant less American military involvement in European affairs and more responsibilities for the Europeans. Sadly, as we experienced in the Balkans, Europeans could not handle a conflict even in our own backyard and had to call on the Americans through Nato. So the two countries decided to take the lead. The arrival of George W. Bush, the Iraq war and the deterioration of relations between France and the UK that followed slowed the momentum but did not alter a reality which is even harder and more urgent today: the two ex-colonial powers, although priding themselves as nuclear powers and Security Council permanent members, can no longer pretend to have real influence in the world unless they join forces.
But there is a difference...
Read entire article at Financial Times (UK)
Rejoice, rejoice. The occasions to celebrate are scarce these days. So let’s not be parsimonious with the good news: at their summit on Tuesday France and Britain embarked on a sweeping co-operation on defence in all fields, from joint expeditionary forces to unmanned air systems, from cybersecurity to aircraft carriers. Why such a miracle? Even if budgetary constraints have played a role, they do not explain the signing of a formal treaty and a detailed declaration that goes so far as to express a shared will to co-operate even on the sensitive area of nuclear deterrence.
It may seem surprising given their prickly history over the centuries, but it should not be. France and Britain account for half of Europe’s defence budget and two-thirds of its research and technology spending in this area. It is about time they co-operated.
Nor is it a complete revolution. Twelve years ago Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair made the St Malo declaration, which resulted from a painful realisation: the end of the cold war meant less American military involvement in European affairs and more responsibilities for the Europeans. Sadly, as we experienced in the Balkans, Europeans could not handle a conflict even in our own backyard and had to call on the Americans through Nato. So the two countries decided to take the lead. The arrival of George W. Bush, the Iraq war and the deterioration of relations between France and the UK that followed slowed the momentum but did not alter a reality which is even harder and more urgent today: the two ex-colonial powers, although priding themselves as nuclear powers and Security Council permanent members, can no longer pretend to have real influence in the world unless they join forces.
But there is a difference...