UK seeks to mend fences with France after strains

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes that some cross-Channel cooperation with France could be revived following the reelection of President Emmanuel Macron, though officials in Paris say thawing the frosty relationship is not on the top of their agenda.

Allies of the prime minister say the government seeks much improved collaboration with France on managing migration and tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol post-Brexit.

An ally of Johnson was quoted by the Financial Times as saying there is a new expectation that "Macron's reelection will take the heat out of things and there might be scope for more from the relationship".

Johnson told reporters on Monday that he and Macron had been able to "work closely together on Ukraine over the last few weeks and months".

But the French president's reelection is unlikely to ease long-running disputes over Brexit and other issues, such as fishing rights and a nuclear submarine deal the United Kingdom made with Australia, said the news website Politico. There has also been tension around the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, and over bilateral defense cooperation.

Speaking to reporters after Macron's reelection on Sunday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, said that the administration's top priority "will not be the relationship between the UK and France, but "to reinforce French unity to take into account all the concerns that have been expressed during this election".

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, told Politico that any change in the Franco-British relationship was unlikely until Johnson is replaced as prime minister.

"The truth is that Macron doesn't like Boris Johnson at all," Grant said. "It is not just electoral politics－he really is fed up with Johnson. (The French) think Johnson is not an honest or a serious person they can deal with. That's going to continue."

Macron had described the French election as a "referendum on Europe", and is now more likely to focus his attention on domestic and European concerns over relations with the UK, say observers.

In an analysis piece for iNews, Denis MacShane, the UK's minister of Europe from 2002 to 2005, said Macron's election win means "the world, if not perhaps the English prime minister, will note France and Europe have just had a vote of confidence in themselves".

jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com