Despite what the seemingly Anglophile French President Nicolas Sarkozy says, Britain - which accounts for a whopping one third of the EU's military capablities - can never be best of friends with France, a feeble military power which always talks big but does little.
Britain's best friend shall remain the United States....
Why we can never be best friends with France
26th March 2008
Daily Mail
STEPHEN GLOVER
How touching it was to hear President Nicolas Sarkozy of France waxing so lyrical about the Anglo-French relationship yesterday morning on the radio, and later in a gracious address to Parliament.
He wants the Entente Cordiale, which has governed relations between our two countries for over a hundred years, to rack up a notch or two so as to become "amicable".
Those of us who love France - its beautiful countryside, its incomparable food, its great towns, its rich history and its literature - may be tempted by President Sarkozy's offer of a "new Franco-British brotherhood".
But it is an error to confuse the countless attractions of France as a country and a culture with the supposed advantages of an even warmer relationship with the French State. That is not such a good idea.
Naturally I do not enjoy pouring even a drop of cold water on an official visit that has gripped the media and galvanised our political Establishment. Suddenly everyone seems to think that more intimate relations with France are highly desirable.
Mr Sarkozy, despite his brief and unpopular stint as President, is accorded the rare privilege for a foreign leader of addressing both Houses of Parliament.
Carla Bruni, his recently acquired wife and a former model, is of course a joy to behold, and was considerably more elegantly attired yesterday than our own frowsy Duchess of Cornwall.
But we should not allow an infatuation with the delectable Ms Bruni - who, by the by, is not even French, but Italian - to dictate our feelings about the advantages of an ever closer liaison with France.
Friends: President Nicolas Sarkozy and new wife Carla Bruni arrive for the state visit
Why is this not a good idea? The first reason is that France has rarely been a reliable or trustworthy ally. She was driven into the Entente Cordiale after centuries of war and rivalry with Britain because of her fear of Germany, and it is a preoccupation with her still richer and more populous neighbour that continues to dominate her foreign policy thinking.
It would be difficult to argue that Britain has got more out of the Entente Cordiale than France. Time and again we have paid in blood and gold for our alliance with her, and usually received precious little thanks for our sacrifices, though Mr Sarkozy was handsome in his praises yesterday.
For the past 50 years France has followed her national interest by cleaving to her former enemy, Germany, rather than her old ally and defender, Britain.
Look at it another way. Which alliance has benefited this country more: the so-called special relationship with the United States or the Entente Cordiale? Whereas France turned out on two occasions last century to be a country that needed rescuing, America has twice done her bit - three times, if you include the Cold War - to help rescue us and the rest of Europe. When, 50 years ago, the British and French governments colluded over Suez, disregarding the United States, they landed flat on their faces.
This brings me to my second reason for being sceptical about President Sarkozy's seemingly alluring overtures. Why should we seek a closer relationship with a second-rate power that talks big but is militarily more feeble than Britain, a country which accounts for a third of the EU's military capabalities??
Like other European leaders, Mr Sarkozy bangs on about a European defence force without offering any sign that the French Government is prepared to make the necessary financial sacrifice. France may still long to be a great power but it lacks the means or will to act like one.
For example, President Sarkozy yesterday indicated that France will send further soldiers to Afghanistan, probably about 1,000 in number, to join the handful of French troops already loitering there some distance from the worst of the fighting. What a splendid show of force! The United States has tens of thousands of soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and Britain has many more than France.
For all its talk, the French government is unwilling or unable to make a substantial commitment to match the fighting words of its President.
As Mr Sarkozy conceded yesterday, Britain does have a particular relationship with the United States. There are good reasons for being sceptical about this. We were drawn into a reckless, and probably illegal, American-led war in Iraq.
But it would be madness to place very much faith in a key military alliance with France, a country with much more swagger than clout, at the expense of a strong relationship with the United States which, more often than not, has worked to our advantage.
That is why I am so wary of President Sarkozy's come-on. Of course there is further scope for closer cooperation on matters such as immigration and energy and the economy. We are close allies, and should remain so.
Mr Sarkozy's obvious admiration for the Anglo-Saxon economic model - as opposed to the Carla Bruni variety - is cheering to hear. Thirty years ago it was France that seemed dynamic, and Britain the pitiable basket case. To an extent that would have seemed astonishing then, the positions have been reversed.
Both countries are medium-sized powers that not long ago fancied themselves as world powers, and both, in Douglas Hurd's memorable phrase, continue "to punch above their weight". But tempting though it is to think that these two experienced old crocs would make a formidable alliance together, I am afraid it will not work.
Britain's security relationship with France and the rest of Europe should not be built up at the expense of a proven alliance with the United States. That is what Mr Sarkozy is really suggesting.
Be assured that nothing I write is remotely anti-French. Apart from my own country, it is my favourite place on earth. I would far rather live in a farmhouse in Gascony than on a ranch in Texas or Wyoming. Wouldn't most of us? France is one of the most beautiful and most rewarding countries on earth, on which God has lavished more care and attention than He has on almost any other.
But being Francophile should not make one an unthinking supporter of the kind of souped-up Entente Cordiale that President Sarkozy proposed yesterday.
I very much hope that he enjoys his two-day official visit, and his various banquets and feasts. To roll out the red carpet so readily for a man who has achieved little or nothing in his short presidency may seem to be overdoing it, but in his favour it can be said that he has brought the delightful Carla Bruni to our shores.
We must be polite to them while they are here, but we should not be taken in by his enticing words about a deeper Anglo-French friendship.
A moment's thought about what has taken place between our two countries over the past hundred years since the Entente Cordiale was signed should be enough to remind us why France and Britain can never be - and should never be - the very best of friends.
dailymail.co.uk
Britain's best friend shall remain the United States....
Why we can never be best friends with France
26th March 2008
Daily Mail
STEPHEN GLOVER
How touching it was to hear President Nicolas Sarkozy of France waxing so lyrical about the Anglo-French relationship yesterday morning on the radio, and later in a gracious address to Parliament.
He wants the Entente Cordiale, which has governed relations between our two countries for over a hundred years, to rack up a notch or two so as to become "amicable".
Those of us who love France - its beautiful countryside, its incomparable food, its great towns, its rich history and its literature - may be tempted by President Sarkozy's offer of a "new Franco-British brotherhood".
But it is an error to confuse the countless attractions of France as a country and a culture with the supposed advantages of an even warmer relationship with the French State. That is not such a good idea.
Naturally I do not enjoy pouring even a drop of cold water on an official visit that has gripped the media and galvanised our political Establishment. Suddenly everyone seems to think that more intimate relations with France are highly desirable.
Mr Sarkozy, despite his brief and unpopular stint as President, is accorded the rare privilege for a foreign leader of addressing both Houses of Parliament.
Carla Bruni, his recently acquired wife and a former model, is of course a joy to behold, and was considerably more elegantly attired yesterday than our own frowsy Duchess of Cornwall.
But we should not allow an infatuation with the delectable Ms Bruni - who, by the by, is not even French, but Italian - to dictate our feelings about the advantages of an ever closer liaison with France.
Friends: President Nicolas Sarkozy and new wife Carla Bruni arrive for the state visit
Why is this not a good idea? The first reason is that France has rarely been a reliable or trustworthy ally. She was driven into the Entente Cordiale after centuries of war and rivalry with Britain because of her fear of Germany, and it is a preoccupation with her still richer and more populous neighbour that continues to dominate her foreign policy thinking.
It would be difficult to argue that Britain has got more out of the Entente Cordiale than France. Time and again we have paid in blood and gold for our alliance with her, and usually received precious little thanks for our sacrifices, though Mr Sarkozy was handsome in his praises yesterday.
For the past 50 years France has followed her national interest by cleaving to her former enemy, Germany, rather than her old ally and defender, Britain.
Look at it another way. Which alliance has benefited this country more: the so-called special relationship with the United States or the Entente Cordiale? Whereas France turned out on two occasions last century to be a country that needed rescuing, America has twice done her bit - three times, if you include the Cold War - to help rescue us and the rest of Europe. When, 50 years ago, the British and French governments colluded over Suez, disregarding the United States, they landed flat on their faces.
This brings me to my second reason for being sceptical about President Sarkozy's seemingly alluring overtures. Why should we seek a closer relationship with a second-rate power that talks big but is militarily more feeble than Britain, a country which accounts for a third of the EU's military capabalities??
Like other European leaders, Mr Sarkozy bangs on about a European defence force without offering any sign that the French Government is prepared to make the necessary financial sacrifice. France may still long to be a great power but it lacks the means or will to act like one.
For example, President Sarkozy yesterday indicated that France will send further soldiers to Afghanistan, probably about 1,000 in number, to join the handful of French troops already loitering there some distance from the worst of the fighting. What a splendid show of force! The United States has tens of thousands of soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and Britain has many more than France.
For all its talk, the French government is unwilling or unable to make a substantial commitment to match the fighting words of its President.
As Mr Sarkozy conceded yesterday, Britain does have a particular relationship with the United States. There are good reasons for being sceptical about this. We were drawn into a reckless, and probably illegal, American-led war in Iraq.
But it would be madness to place very much faith in a key military alliance with France, a country with much more swagger than clout, at the expense of a strong relationship with the United States which, more often than not, has worked to our advantage.
That is why I am so wary of President Sarkozy's come-on. Of course there is further scope for closer cooperation on matters such as immigration and energy and the economy. We are close allies, and should remain so.
Mr Sarkozy's obvious admiration for the Anglo-Saxon economic model - as opposed to the Carla Bruni variety - is cheering to hear. Thirty years ago it was France that seemed dynamic, and Britain the pitiable basket case. To an extent that would have seemed astonishing then, the positions have been reversed.
Both countries are medium-sized powers that not long ago fancied themselves as world powers, and both, in Douglas Hurd's memorable phrase, continue "to punch above their weight". But tempting though it is to think that these two experienced old crocs would make a formidable alliance together, I am afraid it will not work.
Britain's security relationship with France and the rest of Europe should not be built up at the expense of a proven alliance with the United States. That is what Mr Sarkozy is really suggesting.
Be assured that nothing I write is remotely anti-French. Apart from my own country, it is my favourite place on earth. I would far rather live in a farmhouse in Gascony than on a ranch in Texas or Wyoming. Wouldn't most of us? France is one of the most beautiful and most rewarding countries on earth, on which God has lavished more care and attention than He has on almost any other.
But being Francophile should not make one an unthinking supporter of the kind of souped-up Entente Cordiale that President Sarkozy proposed yesterday.
I very much hope that he enjoys his two-day official visit, and his various banquets and feasts. To roll out the red carpet so readily for a man who has achieved little or nothing in his short presidency may seem to be overdoing it, but in his favour it can be said that he has brought the delightful Carla Bruni to our shores.
We must be polite to them while they are here, but we should not be taken in by his enticing words about a deeper Anglo-French friendship.
A moment's thought about what has taken place between our two countries over the past hundred years since the Entente Cordiale was signed should be enough to remind us why France and Britain can never be - and should never be - the very best of friends.
dailymail.co.uk
