John Keiger John Keiger

The French buy-out that explains Macron’s strategy

Emmanuel Macron (Credit: Getty images)

It’s a platitude that France and Britain are rivals and have been for centuries. But, since the 1904 Entente Cordiale, the rivalry is more a question of competition than conflict. Always, in the darkest hour, each sided with the other, even if post-war they didn’t fully recognise the other’s contribution. Britain congratulated itself over the Dunkirk evacuation when in truth without French troops holding off the Germans, the ‘plucky’ armada would never have completed its mission; to this day the French believe that American troops were more numerous than British in the Normandy landings. 

With the passing of the French war-time generation the postwar moral debt to Britain and residual goodwill were expunged. Franco-British relations became purely transactional with a host of pragmatic and deep agreements on everything from defence and diplomacy to security. Then two things happened: Brexit and Macron.

Since 2017, the French President’s aim has been to demonstrate that Britain cannot possibly thrive post-Brexit. He, more than any other French leader since De Gaulle, has placed obstacles in Britain’s path. Justifiably, in his eyes: he believes EU integration is the sole route to progress. His actions are driven by a legitimate fear that a successful Britain will give succour to thriving euroscepticism in a state whose collective consciousness remains firmly wedded to the nation-state. 

Franco-British relations became purely transactional with a host of pragmatic agreements. Then Brexit and Macron happened

London, on the other hand, while not always behaving well, has sought to carry on reasonable transactional relations with Paris. Very large state contracts continue to be awarded to France on nuclear power stations and HS2, not to mention French companies increasing their control of UK railways, water, etc. But this is largely one-way traffic.

The latest manifestation is the French takeover of the British company OneWeb.

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