PARIS — The French have long had a habit of annoying the British. Lately they’ve been digging their heels in over concessions they want Prime Minister Keir Starmer to accept in return for his hoped-for reset with the EU.
From defense to fisheries, France’s diplomats have been playing hardball, according to officials from both sides. So while governments are optimistic that Britain and Europe can rekindle some kind of relationship in the wake of Donald Trump’s less-than-subtle attempt to turn his back on them, it’s certainly not turning out to be a painless process.
Just as Paris played bad cop during the negotiations over the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU and subsequent trade deal between 2016 and 2020, it’s putting in a repeat performance now the Brits want to get closer again, with a crucial London summit less than two weeks away.
“The French have stayed very much on the position that there shouldn’t be any advantages given to the British after Brexit,” said François-Joseph Schichan, a former French diplomat and director at advisory firm Flint Global.
In fact, some of the same issues that caused such a headache for the two sides during the divorce are rearing their heads again, according to diplomats from both sides who, like others quoted in this piece, were granted anonymity to speak frankly about talks behind closed doors.
France, for example, wants to limit British access to a €150 billion European rearmament defense fund that is being negotiated. It also wants to secure access to British waters for EU fishing fleets ahead of a deadline next year.
In Paris, French officials are optimistic that their lobbying will pay off on the arms purchasing issue, but they remain tight-lipped regarding any fisheries deal.
Farage looms large
European and British negotiators have this week been locked in another round of intensive talks to strike a three-part pact that includes a political declaration, a defense pact and a third section on other areas of cooperation. A landmark summit between the two sides is planned for London on May 19.
In the last few months, the warming relations have seen Starmer hosting and being invited to leader-level discussions on Ukraine and U.K. ministers participating in EU meetings. The most recent of these was Wednesday’s gathering of EU foreign ministers in Poland attended by Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“We are working hand-in-hand with our European allies to build a safer, more secure, and more prosperous Europe,” Lammy said.
But a lot can still go wrong, not least because Starmer is under increased pressure following big wins by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in local elections last week. Farage was one of the most vocal supporters of Brexit and is railing against any government attempt to push the U.K. back into the European fold.
With uncertainty hovering over the future of the NATO alliance under Trump, and Washington threatening to walk away from difficult ceasefire negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, European officials want to land a security deal with the U.K., an allied nuclear power that has a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
In Paris, however, the urgency to lock arms with the British is tempered by a desire to use the moment to address the bad blood left over from Brexit.
The French are keen in principle on a security alliance with the U.K., but are worried that a bigger deal leaves them open to being blindsided later on more controversial issues, such as access to British waters for EU trawlers.
Under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, signed in 2020, European fleets have certain fishing rights and quotas in British waters, but those expire in 2026. France, Denmark and the Netherlands want that access extended.
And while Paris doesn’t want to trade guns for fish, it’s clear France is pushing to secure fishing rights as a prerequisite to a closer defense partnership.
“You can’t negotiate security [and] defense one year, and the next year be fighting over mackerel quotas,” a French official said.
French isolation
The defense dispute boils down to money. The U.K. wants its firms to benefit from SAFE, the multibillion-euro rearmament program that is currently being negotiated by EU members, but France sees that effort as unwelcome competition from London and a case of the Brits trying to have their post-Brexit cake and eat it too.
Some EU member countries such as Germany and those in Eastern Europe under greater threat from Russia have bristled at what they regard as French intransigence. One non-French EU diplomat said that France had started “to feel isolated” as it resisted making SAFE more accessible to the British.
The mood in France is currently trending toward “including the British, but with strict conditions.” One option being floated is making the U.K. a fee-paying participant in SAFE, according to an official from Renew Europe, which includes French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists.
“I think the French reluctance on this issue was more an initial negotiating position, because the French defense industry doesn’t want rivals, and there’ll be an impact on jobs locally,” the official said.
Old habits die hard
The disagreement boils down to a difference in post-Brexit mindsets between Paris and London.
Britain still sees Brussels as a close partner despite leaving the EU, but French confidence in the U.K. remains shaken. And while Britain believes the “special relationship” with the U.S. is salvageable, Europe has come to terms with its breakup with America under Trump.
That, and British efforts to secure a trade deal with Washington, have reinforced the French view that the reset with Starmer will be relatively limited and that the U.K. doesn’t see its future as lying exclusively with the continent.
In the end, France’s role in the reset might come down to a cold political calculus. Macron needs Starmer if he hopes to achieve anything on Ukraine, and foreign policy is one of the few areas that can burnish his public image amid France’s domestic political gridlock.
“If France and the U.K don’t work together, nothing will happen,” said Schichan, the former diplomat. “If Macron wants results, he needs to be aligned [with London].”
Gregorio Sorgi and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.
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